BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
13 
taken from the crop of a moderate-sized bird. The plant is much smaller in all its parts than R. acris. and flowers 
much earlier in spring. Miss Agnes Strickland evidently alludes to it in the following lines :— 
“ Welcome little Butter-cups! 
Oh ye pretty flowers, 
ComiDg ere the summer time 
To tell of sunny hours. 
“ While the trees are leafless, 
While the fields are bare, 
Golden glossy Butter-cups 
Spring up here and there.’ 
G.— THE CELERY-LEAVED CROW-FOOT. (R. sceleratus, Lin.) 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 681 ; 2d edit., t. 787. I smooth, lower ones palmate, upper ones fingered; fruit oblong, 
Specific Character. —Stem erect, hollow, much branched ; leaves I very numerous, minute. (Smith.) 
Description, &.c. —This is the most poisonous of all the kinds, and it has been known to blister the hands 
of children who have gathered it, and carried it to any distance in warm weather. The Latin name signifies 
most wicked, in allusion to its caustic properties. It has, luckily, no beauty to recommend it, as its flowers 
are very small, and of a dingy yellow. It is used by beggars in England for the same purpose as the 
Clematis is in France ; that is, to produce the appearance of an ulcer from a slight wound. These practices 
were very common formerly ; but they are gradually disappearing as the world is becoming more enlightened, 
and the people well-informed. 
7.— THE CREEPING CROW-FOOT. (Ranunculus repens, Lin.) 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 516 ; 2d ed., t. 790. 
Specific Character. —Calyx spreading ; flower-stalks furrowed ; shootscreeping; leaves compound, cut, the uppermost entire. ( Lindley.) 
Description, &c. —This species is one of the most common of all the kinds of Crow-foot, and it is also the 
most troublesome weed in the whole genus. It is very common in moist meadows throughout the whole 
country ; and, as its creeping stems send forth shoots at every joint, it soon takes possession of the ground, to 
the destruction of the grass, or other crop, in the field. This plant varies very much in different situations. In 
moist ground it will grow three or four feet high, with a stem an inch or inoi’e in diameter; but in dry, 
gravelly soils it only creeps along the ground, and its stem is not thicker than a straw. It is, however, always 
recognised by its creeping stem, which it never loses, even in a state of cultivation. 
8. —THE CORN CROW-FOOT, OR HUNGER-WEED. (Ranunculus arvensis, Lin.) 
Engravings.— Eng. Bot., t. 135 ; 2d ed., t. 793. I or twice deeply threc-cleft, with linear-lanceolate segments ; stem 
Specific Character. —Fruit very prickly at the sides ; leaves once | erect, much branched, many-flowered. (Smith.) 
Description, &c. —This is an annual plant, very common in corn-fields, particularly in gravelly soils. The ' 
leaves are of a pale yellowish-green, and the flowers very small. The seed-vessels are, however, remarkable 
from their being covered with strong prominent prickles, which are sometimes hooked. The plant is extremely 
acrid, and it is more dangerous than most of the other species, as cows, horses, and sheep all eat it greedily. 
Fortunately, it generally grows in corn-fields, where cattle are not likely to be found ; but it is very dangerous, 
and ought to be guarded against, when any animal is put into the stubble. When it has been eaten, it occasions 
violent pain and convulsions, which in some cases are followed by death—the remedy is vinegar. 
