RANUNCULUS 
i45 
20. RANUNCULUS FLUITANS. Fennel-leaved Water Crowfoot. Plate 152 
Millefolium maratriphyllum ranunculi flore Parkinson Theatr. Bot. 1257 (1640); Ranunculo sive polyanthemo 
aquatili albo affine millefolium maratriphyllum fluitans Ray Cat. A ngl. 259 (1670); Syn. ed. 3, 250 (1724). 
Ranunculus fluitans Lamarck FI. Fr. ed. 2, iii, 184 (1778); Godron op. cit. 36 (1840); Babington in 
Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, 402 (1855); Syme Eng. Bot. i, 17(1863); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 71 (1893); R. 
aquatilis var. & L. Sp. PI. 556(1753); Smith FI. 
Brit. 596(1800)!; R. fluviatilis Weber in Wig- 
gers FI. Holsat. 42 (1780) ; Sibthorp FI. Oxon. 176 
(1794); R. peucedanifolius Gilibert FI. Lithuan. v, 
261 (1782); Schrank Baier. FI. ii, 103 (1789); R. 
aquatilis var. fluviatilis Withering A rr. Brit. PL 
ed. 3, ii, 507 (1796); R. pantothrix var. peucedani- 
folius DC. Syst. Nat. i, 236 (1818); Batrachium 
fluitans Wimmer FI. Schles. 9 (1841); R. fluitans 
var. lamarcki Wirtgen FI. Preuss. Rheinpr. 15 
(1857); R. fluitans var. peucedanifolius Syme 
Eng. Bot. i, 18 (1863). 
leones : — Babington in Eng. Bot. Suppl. 
t. 2870, as R. fluitans ; Reichenbach Icon, iii, t. 2, 
fig. 4577, as R. fluitans. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 152. (a) Fertile 
branch, (b) Receptacle (enlarged). ( c ) Flower. 
( d ) Head of achenes. ( e ) Achenes (enlarged). 
Huntingdonshire (S. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 2404, as R. fluitans ; 
Welwitsch {FI. Lusit.), 1007, as R. peucedanifolius ; 
Wirtgen, v, 16 1, as B. fluitans ; FI. Exs. Austr.- 
Hung., 1707. 
Perennial. Shoot very long (sometimes 
more than 2 metres). Branches very 
long, robust, submerged. Submerged leaves 
usually very long ; sheaths conspicuous, 
broad, scarcely auricled, more or less 
adnate, petioles often long ; segments 
usually long, flat, more or less parallel, 
narrowing towards the tip. Floating leaves 
absent. Receptacle ultimately glabrous 1 and 
rather elongate. Pedicels usually stout, 
shorter than the leaves. Flowers large (up 
to 3‘0 — 3 ’3 cm. in diameter), often with 
supernumerary petals; mid-May to July. 
Petals 5 — 9, 2 — 3 times as long as the sepals. Stamens about 15 — 20. Achenes glabrous, rather 
turgid, large, inner side rather convex ; beak short. 
Many botanists recognise two varieties of R. fluitans. One, the plant above described, is R. fluitans var. lamarcki 
Wirtgen l.c. The other is R. fluitans var. bachi Wirtgen FI. Preuss. Rheinpr. 15 (1857) 2 ; Syme Eng. Bot. i, 18 (1863); 
R. bachi Wirtgen ex F. Schultz in Arch, de FI. i, 292 (1854); R. fluitans race bachi Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 72 
(1893): Billot, no. 1103, as R. bachi. The latter (var. bachi ) is a smaller plant than the former (var. lamarcki ), the segments 
of its submerged leaves very much shorter, floating leaves sometimes produced (Brotherston in Herb. Univ. Cantab.), and 
its flowers smaller. It is recorded for Staffordshire (Syme op. cit.), and for some of the Border counties (Cumberland, 
Roxburghshire, and Berwickshire), as well as for Denmark, Germany, and France. We have not seen the plant growing ; 
and we have been unable to find dried specimens showing ripe achenes. We wonder if the plant is a hybrid. 
The mud-form of R. fluitans has much shorter branches and leaves, the segments of the leaves flat and obcuneate, and 
smaller flowers. 
R. aquatilis var. cambricus Ar. Bennett has also been referred to R. fluitans by some English botanists. 
Some of the river-states of R. aquatilis closely simulate R. fluitans in habit ; and in the absence of ripe fruit it is 
often difficult to separate the two species. 
M. III. 
1 Cf. Bot. Exch. Club Brit. Is., Rep. for i 8 pj, 398 (1894). 
2 Cf. also Verhand. Naturh. Ver. Preuss. Rheinl. ii, 22 (1845). 
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