Kanunculus.] RANUNCULACEM. 19 



not pointed. Aclienes large, oblong, with a short hooked beak, strongly 

 ribbed. 



Dehra Dun. Distrib : West Himalaya, from Simla to Sikkim, up 

 to 2,000 ft. ; Khasia Hills ; Parasnath in Behar ; Chota Nagpur, and 

 south to Ceylon and Java. 



2. T. foUolosum, DC. Syst. i. 175; Royle 111.51: Blc. f. Sc T Fl 

 Ind. 16; F. B. I. i. 14; Watt E. D. Vern. ShupraJc. 



Stems 4-8 ft. high, glabrous. Leaves pinnately decompound, with 

 auricled sheaths ; leaflets orbicular, without stipels. Flowers in much- 

 branched panicles, polygamous, white, pale green or dingy purple. 

 Anthers pointed. Achenes acute at each end, sharply ribbed. 



Dehra Dun. Distrib. : Abundant throughout the Temperate Hima- 

 laya up to 9,000 ft., also on the Khasia Hills, The root, m amir a, is 

 much valued as a native remedy for ophthalmia, and also as a febrifuge. 



3. RANUNCULUS, Linn. ; PI. Br. Ind. i. 16. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves entire lobed or dissected. 

 Stipules membranous or 0. Floivers usually pacicled, white or 

 yellow. ^iSe^aZ.? 3-5, herbaceous, caducous, imbricate in bud. Petals 

 usually 5, rarely 0, often glandular near the base. Stamens many. 

 Carpels many, styles short ; ovule 1, ascending. Fruit a bead or 

 spike of beaked or apiculate achenes. To this genus belong the- 

 common English Buttercups {R. hulhosus, acris, SLudrepens). 

 An aquatic plant with white flowers . » 1. R. aquatilis. 

 Flowers yellow — 

 Glabrous ; achenes turgid, not margined 2. E. sceleratus. 

 Hairy ; achenes flattened and with an in- 

 tramarginal rib 3, E, pensylv aniens. 



1. R. aqaatUis, Linn. Sp. PI. 556; Var. trichophyllus, Chaix (sp.) 

 F. B- I. i. 16. E. aquatilis, L. (in part); Don in Royle III. 54; EJc.f. 8c 

 T. Fl. Ind. 29; Watt E. D. (Water crow-foot.) 



Leaves all submerged, segments thread-like; stipuZes ^-adnate, auricled. 

 Floivers shortly peduncled, usually small, white. Stamens few. Achenes 

 in globular heads, transversely wrinkled. 



Occasionally in the Gangetic Plain as far south as Saharanpur and 

 Delhi. Distrib. : Punjab Plain ; West Himalaya from the Indus to 

 Kumaon, up to considerable elevations, extending through Baluchis- 

 tan and Afghanistan to Europe, where many varieties occur ; also in N. 

 Asia, and in temperate parts of the S. Hemisphere. Floating leaves 

 never occur in the Indian plant. The acrid and unwholesome properties 

 characteristic of Ranunculacece are not found in this species. 



2. R. sceleratus, Linn. Sp. PI. 551 ; Bovle. III. 53; Eh.f. <$• T. Fl. 

 Ind. 35 ; F. B. I. . 19 ; WattE. D. E. indicus, Roxh. Fl. Ind. ii. 67i. 

 (Cedery-leared crow-foot.) 



b2 



