128 
RANUNCULUS 
3. RANUNCULUS FLAMMULA. Lesser Spearwort. Plates 130, 131, 132 
Flammula Turner Names H iii (1548); R. jiammeus minor Gerard Herball 814 (1597) incl. R. flammeus 
serratus ; Ray Syn. ed. 3, 250 (1724); R. flammeus latiori plantaginis folio marginibus pilosis Dillenius in Ray 
Syn. ed. 3, 251 (1724). 
Ranunculus flammula L. Sp. PI. 548(1753)!; Smith Eng. Bot. no. 387 (1797) !; FI. Brit. 587 (1800) ; 
Syme Eng. Bot. i, 33 (1863); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 82 (1893). 
Perennial. Stem erect or decumbent, up to 40 cm. high, usually rooting at the base. Ground 
leaves sheathing at the base, petiolate, petioles usually about as long as the laminae ; laminae elliptical 
or obovate, margin toothed or entire. Upper leaves sheathing at the base, sessile, narrowly ovate to 
linear, usually entire. Pedicels furrowed. Receptacle elongate. Flowers from 1 cm. or rather less 
to 2 cm. in diameter ; May to September. Scale of nectary small. Head of achenes globose. 
Achenes glabrous or nearly so. 
R. flammula is one of the most variable species in the British flora. Many of its forms seem to be due to habitat- 
conditions, to which the species is very responsive. Whether or not the following varieties are more than habitat-states (or 
formae) cannot, in the absence of cultural experiments, be stated. 
(a) R. flammula var. ovatus Persoon Syn. ii, 102 (1807); R. flammida var. serratus DC. Syst. i, 247 (1818); 
Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 83 (1893) ; R. flammida var. latifolius Wallroth Sched. Crit. 289 (1822) inch var. 
serratus. 
leones : — Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 130. (a) Lower part and (b, c) upper part of shoot, (d) Receptacle 
(enlarged). ( e ) Achenes (enlarged), b from Jersey ; a , c, d, and e from Cornwall (E. W. H.). 
Whole plant more robust than in the other varieties. Laminae broad, margins more or less serrate. 
Inflorescence many-flowered. Flowers larger, often 2 cm. in diameter. Achenes relatively broader. 
Jersey, Cornwall, and doubtless elsewhere in southern England; recorded, for example, for Surrey and 
Buckinghamshire (in Bot. Exch. Club Brit. Is., Rep. for /<?//, p. 7). 
France, and doubtless elsewhere. 
(b) R. flammula var. suberectus comb. nov. ; R. flammida subsp. eu-flammula var. suberectus Syme Eng. 
Bot. i, 34 (1863); R. flammula Rouy et Foucaud loc. cit., excl. vars. 
leones : — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 387, as R. flammula ; Curtis FI. Lond. ii, t. 107, as R. flammula ; FI. Dan. 
t. 575, as R. flammula ; Reichenbach Icon. t. 10, fig. 4945, as R. flammula. 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 207, as R. flammula-, Don, 113, as R. flammula-, Wirtgen, ix, 730, as R. flammula ; 
Herb. FI. Ingric. i, 15, as R. flammula-, Linn, herb., as R. flammula-, Smith herb., as R. flammula. 
Stem rooting at the lower nodes, more or less procumbent at the base, suberect to erect above. 
Laminae oval or narrowly oval, entire or only slightly serrate. Inflorescence few-flowered. Flowers 
about 1 '5 cm. in diameter. 
(/ 3 ) var. suberectus forma pseudo-reptans comb, nov.; R. flammula var. angustifolius Wallroth Sched. Crit. 
289 (1822) inch var. tenuifolius ; Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 83 (1893); R. flammula subsp. eu-flammula 
var. pseudo-reptans Syme loc. cit. 
This is a common state with a slender and often a procumbent stem which roots at the nodes, with narrow laminae, 
and with small flowers : it often occurs on barren and especially on acidic soils. 
(7) var. suberectus forma submersus comb, nov.; R. flammula forma submersus Gluck Biol, und Morph., 
iii Die Uferflora 495 (1911). 
This is the deep-water state with narrowly elliptical laminae and apparently always barren. 
(B) var. suberectus forma natans comb, nov.; R. flammula forma natans Gluck op. cit. p. 493. 
This is the water-state with floating, oval laminae. 
The var. suberectus is the most common form of the species. 
(c) R. flammula var. petiolaris Lange in fourn. Bot. xxvii, 230 (1889); R. petiolaris Marshall in fourn. 
Bot. xxx, 289, t. 328 (1892) non Bonpland, Humboldt, and Kunth; R. scoticus Marshall in fourn. Bot. xxxvi, 103 
(1898); in Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist. 122 (1898). 
leones : — Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 131. (a) Lower part and (b) upper part of flowering shoot, (c) Lower 
leaves of the same plant grown on until the following year, (d) Flower. ( e ) Petal (enlarged). (/) Head of 
achenes. (g) Achenes (three enlarged). Inverness-shire (E. S. M.). 
Ground-leaves and lower stem-leaves with long petioles, laminae elliptical. 
Possibly this ought to be reduced to a subvariety of var. suberectus. Mr Marshall’s statement that the first leaves of 
this variety have linear laminae is not confirmed by growing the plant under cultural conditions : on the contrary, it seems 
to be the case that all members of the section Flammula possess first leaves with elliptical laminae. 
