132 
RANUNCULUS 
The apetalous or hemi-apetalous form ( R . auricomus subvar. apetalus nobis -R. auricomus var. apetalus Wallroth ex DC. 
Prodr. i, 34 (1824)) appears to be common throughout the range of the species in Great Britain, particularly in the north. 
Many leaf-forms have received varietal names. Cf. Wallroth Sched. Crit. 290 (1822); also Pot. Exch. Club Brit. Is. Rep. 
for 1011, p. 7. Whether or not these forms have been tested in cultivation we are unable to state. 
Woods and shady hedgebanks, very rare on grassland ; a lowland plant, ascending to 275 m. 
in the West Riding of Yorkshire ; a typical mesophile, avoiding extreme soils (such as chalk and 
peat) of all kinds; from Cornwall and Kent northwards to eastern Inverness-shire, rare in Wales, 
absent from western and northern Scotland ; widespread in Ireland. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe (ascending to 
2120m, in Switzerland), Russia, rare in southern Europe; Asia. 
7. RANUNCULUS REPENS. Buttercup or Creeping Crowfoot. Plate 136 
R. pratensis etiamque hortensis Gerard Herball 804 (1597); R- pratensis repens Parkinson Theatr. Bot. 329 
(1640); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 247 (1724). 
Ranunculus repens L. Sp. PI. 554 (1753)!; Smith Eng. Bot. no. 516 (1799)!; FI. Brit. 592 (1800); 
Syme Eng. Bot. i, 40 (1863); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 100 (1893). 
leones Smith Eng. Bot. t. 516; Curtis FI. Lond. ii, t. 109; Martyn FI. Rust. t. 29; FI. Dan. t. 795; 
Reichenbach Icon, iii, t. 20, fig. 4610. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 136. ( a ) Flowering shoot with runner. ( b ) Petal, (r) Head of achenes (enlarged). 
(d) Achenes (two enlarged). Jersey (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 2207 ; Fellman 6 ; Herb. FI. Ingric. i, 20. 
Perennial. Roots fibrous, not thickened. Rhizome short. Shoot usually hairy, up to 6 — 7 dm. 
high. Barren stems decumbent, long, rooting at the nodes, slightly grooved. Ground-leaves with 
petioles longer than the laminae, petioles with prominent basal sheaths ; laminae ternate ; pinnae 
3 -fid, with long or short stalks, with 3 main lobes ; lobes coarsely, irregularly, and deeply toothed, 
teeth acute. Pedicels grooved, up to about 8 cm. long. Receptacle rather hairy. Flowers about 2 # o — 
2*5 cm. in diameter; May to October. Sepals narrow, hairy, spreading. Petals or nectar-leaves deep 
yellow, rather longer than broad, scale of nectary conspicuous. Stamens about 6 mm. long ; filaments 
about twice as long as the anthers ; anthers deep yellow. Head of achenes subglobose. Achenes com- 
pressed, brown, glabrous, margin greenish ; beak short, acute. 
(/ 3 ) subvar. glabratus nobis; R. repens var. glabratus DC. Prodr. i, 38 (1824); Rouy et Foucaud Ft. France i, 
100 (1893). 
Shoot glabrous. 
This form is mentioned by Smith {Eng. Bot. no. 516). 
De Vries (in Ber. deutschen bot. Gesellsch. xii, 203 (1894)) and Pledge (in Nat. Science xii, 179 (1898)) have investigated 
the variation in the number of the sepals of this species. Putting their results together, we get : — 
No. of petals 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 
No. of examples 8. 839. 200. 95. 45. 17. 9. 7. 1. 1. 
Very common in damp and wet places generally, except on peat ; ascending to 820 m. in 
Scotland, but rare above 600 m. ; throughout the British Islands. 
Europe (including the Faeroes and Iceland, and ascending to 2212m. in the Tyrol); northern 
Africa; Asia (except southern); North America. 
8. RANUNCULUS ACRIS. Buttercup or Upright Meadow Crowfoot. Plates 137, 138 
R. surrectis cauliculis Gerard Herball 804 (1597); R. pratensis erectus acris Ray Syn. ed. 3, 248 (1724). 
Ranunculus acris L. Sp. PI. 554 (1753)!; Smith Eng. Bot. no. 652 (1799)!; Ft. Brit. 593 (1800); 
Syme Eng. Bot. i, 37 (1863); Rouy et Foucaud Ft. France i, 102 (1893). 
Perennial. Rhizome short. Shoot more or less hairy, up to about 7 dm. high. Stem terete, 
erect. Ground-leaves with long petioles, 3-partite ; segments variable in breadth, lobed, lobes irregularly 
toothed. Stem-leaves — lower ones shortly petioled, upper ones sessile and with entire segments. 
Pedicels hairy, terete. Receptacle glabrous. Flowers about 2*3 to 27 cm. in diameter; May to October. 
Sepals pubescent, spreading. Petals deep yellow, nectary covered by a scale. Stamens about 6 — 7 mm. 
long ; filaments 2 — 3 times as long as the anthers ; anthers golden yellow. Head of achenes subglobose. 
Achenes compressed, glabrous, very finely granulate, margined ; beak conspicuous, curved. 
