92 TIllL ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
flowers beside him, and has awakened to find the skin of 
his cheek pained and irritated to a high degree, by the 
acrid blossoms having Iain near it. 
The water ranunculus (Ranunculus aquatalis) is a hand- 
some ornament of pools and streams. Its leaves vary 
according to the depth, or stillness, or velocity of the 
water in which it grows ; those leaves lying on the surface 
having a round lobed shape, while those which are im- 
mersed are cut into a number of small fibres. 
These variations in the leaves of aquatic plants are 
familiar to botanists. The leaves of floating plants are 
also peculiar, as being totally free from any down or hair 
on either surface; but if a water-plant be removed to a 
dry soil, its leaves, if before much divided, become more 
expanded in shape, and are soon covered with hairs. The 
texture of the plant becomes flrmer, and adapts itself to 
an upright, instead of a floating position, and commonly 
it becomes altogether smaller than when in its native 
waters. 
It is peculiarly remarkable that the aquatic species of 
ranunculus should be the only one wholly destitute of 
noxious qualities, since the fact of its growing in watery 
places would, in most instances, lead us to determine a 
Xjlant, if at all of a suspicious family, as certainly danger- 
ous. It is well known that many of our wild umbelli- 
ferous plants, which, when growing on dry lands, are of 
an aromatic nature, are converted by the presence of 
streams into deadly poisons. Mr. Loudon relates of this 
species, that in the neighbourhood of Ringwood, on the 
borders of the Avon, some of the cottagers feed their 
cows, and even horses, almost solely upon it. A quantity 
is daily collected, and brought in a boat to the edge of 
the water. The cows, when allowed to eat it, consume 
it with great avidity, and would eat so large a quantity 
that the farmer is compelled to limit their allowance. 
One agriculturist supported a horse and several cows ex- 
clusively upon this food, and the small quantity of grass 
which they could find on a common near the river; and 
as they could always find a sufficient supply of the ranun- 
culus, this group of cattle only consumed about a ton of 
hay throughout the year. 
This species is very plentiful in lakes, rivers, and 
