MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
39 
SEEDLINGS OF RANUNCULUS PURSHIl, Richardson. 
Charles A. Davis. 
This northern species was collected by the writer in 1905 in various places 
in the valley of the Menominee River, and the differences which the speci- 
mens collected showed from the published descriptions and illustrations, 
at first led to the conclusion that the plant found was distinct from Ranun- 
culus Purshii; later studies, however, seemed to point to the identity of 
the two plants, as the differences were finally decided to be of such character 
that they were immaterial. A quantity of mature fruit was collected, how- 
ever, and a series of germination tests were made in the spring of 1906 and 
the seedlings somewhat carefully studied. 
The seeds were germinated both in water and on moist soil, and of the 
two sets the development was much more rapid in the soil than in the water; 
the cotyledons were very small, 2 to 3 mm. long by 1 .5 mm. wide, elliptical, 
about half as broad as long, and in both soil and water persisted for some 
weeks; the petioles elongating until they exceeded the length of the coty- 
ledons, which also increased in size until they were nearly doubled in length. 
The first leaves were palmately three-lobed, 2 mm. wide by 1.5 mm. long, 
with petioles 1.5 mm. long, and no others except three-lobed ones developed 
in the w'ater, although, on some plants, four or five leaves appeared wdiile 
the plants were under observation; a number of plants were kept submerged, 
and, wiiile they developed more slowly than those whose leaves reached 
the air, and had smaller leaves with rather more slender lobes, the plants 
grew as long as they were watched — several weeks. In the terrestrial plants, 
the fourth leaf to appear had the basal lobes divided and the terminal lobe 
toothed. There w r as no appearance of lobes or teeth on the first three leaves 
which appeared on any plant; the stems of the seedlings developed very 
little in any of the plants. 
The roots of the aquatic specimens were long, very slender, and had but 
few simple branches; those of the terrestrial individuals w r ere not examined. 
From the behavior of the seedlings, under the tw r o sets of conditions to 
which they were subjected, it seemed apparent from the rapidity of growth 
and vigor of the forms growing in the soil as compared with those in water, 
that the plant is normally terrestrial, although in the localities where found, 
it was only seen growing in the water with leaves either floating on the surface, 
or slightly submerged, and the roots and stems suspended in the water 
without definite attachment to the bottom. From these facts it would seem 
that the aquatic habit had been acquired rather recently, and the plant is 
much more likely to be found growing in moist or wet places out of water, 
than its near relative Ranunculus delphinifolius, Torrey, the common Yellow' 
Water Crowdoot, which, while it survives in the bottom of dried-up pools 
during the summer and fall, is, in its typical form, an aquatic plant during 
its flowering and fruiting season. 
In Britton and Browm’s Flora of Northeastern North America, and Brit- 
ton’s Manual of the Flora of the Northern U. S. the habitat of Ranunculus 
Purshii is given as “moist soil,” but as already stated, in the several locali- 
ties where it was found in Menominee County, notably near Hayward Lake, 
