558 
ON PLANTS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS. 
hood, it is used by the peasantry as fodder. They collect it 
in boats and give it to their cows and horses, allowing the 
former about twenty to thirty pounds a day. One man is 
said to have kept five cows and a horse with little other 
food but what they could pick up on the heath, using no 
hay but when the river was frozen. Hogs eat it, and will 
live upon it alone until put up to fatten. A little alpine 
species found on the Norwegian Fjelds, R. glacictlis , is 
known there as the reindeer plant, from the partiality of 
that animal for it; it is a strong sudorific, but cannot pos¬ 
sess much acridity. It may be remarked that all species of 
buttercup are inert when dried with hay, as the active 
principle, like that of the anemone, is volatile, and dispelled 
altogether by heat and exposure to the air. 
Whether there is any difference in quality depending upon 
the fact of fully developed leaves or otherwise , is uncertain, 
but it is highly probable. Anyhow it is a curious circum¬ 
stance that growth in water should so modify active pro¬ 
perties that the aquatic division of the genus should thus 
become inert. 
The yellow division contains five species to which we may 
now direct attention; they are as follows :— 
1. Ranunculus acris —upright buttercup. 
2. 
jj 
bulbosus —bulbous buttercup. 
3. 
99 
repens —creeping buttercup. 
4. 
93 
Jicaria —pilewort buttercup. 
5. 
39 
arvensis —corn crowfoot. 
1. Ranunculus acris , upright buttercup.—Acrid by pre¬ 
eminence, this favourite flower grows everywhere; and 
although its bright colour and hardy growth render it 
familiar to everyone, care must be had to its irritating and 
poisonous qualities. It is said that even pulling up the 
plant with bare hands and carrying it some distance has 
produced inflammation in delicate skins. We know of 
foolish children who, having eaten the bright yellow flowers 
and green leaves, were made extremely ill thereby. Cattle 
in general will not feed on it, but sometimes, when hungry, 
they have been turned into a field of buttercups, and havirig 
eaten them, their mouths have become sore and blistered. 
According to Linnaeus, cows, horses, and pigs refuse it; but 
goats and sheep will eat it. When made into hay its noxi¬ 
ous qualities are lost. 
Poetically, the associations of this plant are numerous. 
An old author introduces it as emblematical of the manhood 
of months:—“June is drawn in a mantle of dark-green 
