BUTTERCUP FAMILY. 



201 



deep green and nearly glabrous, or with a .short stiflish pubescence, 

 especially on the leaves, or soft-pubescent throughout; stems mostly 

 caespitose, erect or decumbent, 9 to 18 in. long, freely branching and 

 many-flowered; leaves roundish in outline, ternately divided, and 

 again divided, parted or lobed, the earlier with the broad divisions 

 obtusely lobed, the later with the laciniately and sharply cleft 

 divisions less broad or narrowly linear, but in these particulars 

 exceedingly variable on the same individual and on different individ- 

 uals; sepals usually somewhat petal-like, closely reflexed; petals about 

 9 to 16, obovate to oblong, 4 to 5 lines long; achenes flattened, 1.] t>> 

 less than 1 line long, the short and rather stout beak closely 

 recurved. 



The most common species, everywhere abundant, coloring leagues 

 upon leagues of grassy hills in the late winter and early spring with 

 its profusion of yellow flowers. Running into innumerable varieties, 

 few of which are in anywise distinguishable. The following may be 

 noted: Var. laetus Greene. Erect, stoutish, the herbage light 

 yellowish-green; segments of the large leaves rather broad. — Low 

 lands, vicinity of the salt marsh region, Suisun, etc. Feb. Var. 

 gratus. Taller and more slender than the type; petals 5, or (on the 

 same individual) 7 or 8; style not slender, rather strongly curved; 

 achenes mostly glabrous. — Commonly in wooded country: hills of 

 Napa Valley; Vaca Mountains. Mar. -Apr. This form can be 

 traced into the typical R. occidentals of the north which occurs as 

 far south as Ukiah (Purdy). 



7. R. occidentalis Nutt. var. Rattani Gray. Very similar to R. 

 Californicus, but the leaf-segments commonly broad; petals 5; style 

 subulate, forming a curved beak, this longer relatively to the achene 

 which is papillose-roughened and densely hispidulous. 



First collected by Rattan on the Klamath; credited by Greene t<> 

 Mt. Hamilton; otherwise little known in the Coast Ranges. 



8. R. hebecarpus H. & A. Very slender herb, 5 to 11 in. high, 

 branched above, sparsely villous; leaves thin, rounded or reniform in 

 outline, 3-parted into ovatish entire or notched or lobed divisions, or 

 the upper divided into 3 divergent narrowly oblong acute segments; 

 peduncles 3 to 6 lines long; flowers minute, yellow; petals of about 

 the same length as the stamens; achenes few, hispidulous with hooked 

 hairs, orbicular, flat, 1 line long, tipped with a short curved beak. 



Common in the shade of Oaks and other trees in the hill country 

 from San Luis Obispo northward: Loma Prieta; Berkeley; Mt. 

 Diablo; Vacaville; also in the Sierra Nevada. 



9. R. muricatus L. Rather stout and succulent; 3 to 10 in. high; 

 herbage yellowish-green, glabrous; leaves roundish or reniform, 

 deeply 3-cleft, the segments again cleft or toothed; petals 3 to 4 lines 

 long; achenes 4 lines long, including the stout ensiform beak, the 

 sides very flat, surrounded by a raised border and coarsely muricate 

 or prickly. 



Naturalized, the known localities few: San Francisco; Marin Co.: 

 Knight's Ferry. Sierra Foothills. Apr. 



