124 
MYOSURUS 
Subtribe VII. Myosurinae 
Myosurinae nobis; Myosuroideae Grenier et Godron FI. France i, 17(1848); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France 
i, 55 (1893). 
For characters, see page 114. Only British genus: — Myosurus. 
Genus 1 2. Myosurus 
Myosurus [Dillenius App. Cat. Giss. 106 (1719);] L. Sp. PI. 284 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 137 (1754); 
Prantl Pfianzenfam. iii, part 2, 6 1 et 63 (1891). 
Small annual herbs. Leaves all radicle ; petioles gradually merging into the laminae ; laminae 
simple, linear, entire. Sepals coloured, 5 — 7 > usually 5> each prolonged into a narrow spur at the 
base. Petals or nectar-leaves linear, consisting of a stalk below and a tube above, as many as the 
sepals or rarely absent. Receptacle greatly elongating in fruit. Stamens few. Achenes very numerous, 
densely packed, small, persistent. 
7 species ; temperate zones. 
1. MYOSURUS MINIMUS. Mouse-tail. Plate 125 
Cauda muris Gerard Herball 345 (1597); Myosurus Ray Syn. ed. 3, 251 (1724). 
Myosurus minimus L. Sp. PI. 284 (1753); Smith Eng. Bot. no. 435 (1797); Ft. Brit. 348 (1800); 
Syme Eng. Bot. i, 15 (1863); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France 
i, 56 (1893). 
leones : — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 435 ; Curtis Ft. Lond. 
ii, t. 70; Ft. Dan. t. 406; Reichenbach Icon, iii, t. 1, fig. 
4659. 
Camb. Brit. Ft. iii. Plate 125. {a, b) Plants in flower. 
Larger plants ( c ) in flower, and (d) in fruit, (e) Flower of 
plant a (enlarged). (/) Sepals (one enlarged), (g) petal (en- 
larged), and (A) stamens (one enlarged) of plant c. a and b 
from Huntingdonshire (E. W. H.). c from Worcestershire 
(R. F. T.). d from Cambridgeshire (C. E. M.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 703 ; v. Heurck, iii, 145 ; E. et 
A. Huet, 2, as M. minimus var. major ; Thielens et Devos, 
iv, 302; Todaro, 250; Herb. Ft. Ingric ., vii, 11. 
An ephemeral annual plant. Shoot up to about 
13 cm. high when in fruit, glabrous. Leaves very 
narrowly spathulate, about 1 — 3 cm. long and 1 mm. 
broad. Flowers about 4 — 8 mm. in diameter ; May. 
Sepals yellow, with claw and limb, limb about 3 — 5 mm. 
long and 1 broad, claw appressed against the pedicel. 
Petals or nectar-leaves greenish-yellow, very narrow 
(less than 1 mm.). Stamens about 5, about as long as 
the petals. Fruit up to about 5 cm. long. Achenes 
very numerous, 200 — 300, brown, ripe in July. 
Rather damp cornfields, and on alluvial ground, on light, sandy, and gravelly soils ; a lowland 
plant, occurring from Dorset and Kent northwards to Carnarvonshire, Flintshire, Cheshire, and 
Northumberland. Not in Scotland or Ireland. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, local in 
southern Europe; northern Africa; south-western Asia; North America. 
Subtribe VIII. RANUNCULINAE 
Ranunculinae nobis non Bernhardi ; Rafiunculeae DC. Syst. Nat. i, 25 (1818) excl. Myosurus ; Grenier 
et Godron Ft. Fratice i, 18 (1848); Rouy et Foucaud Ft. France i, 56 (1893). 
For characters, see page 114. Only British genus: — Ranunculus. 
