February !J. the COTTAGE GARDENER. 285 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
1 1 
I son 
FEBRUARY 5—11, 1852. 
j Weather near London 
IN 1851. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. Rain in In. 
i 
5 Th 
Agatha. 
29794 — 29.508 
49—39 
S.W. 
14 
36 a. 7 
53 a. 4 
rises. 
© 
14 
16 
36 
6 P 
30.148 — 29772 
46—25 
W. 
— 
34 
55 
5 a 57 
16 
14 
21 
37 
7 S 
30.171 — 29.897 
49—35 
S.W. 
19 
32 
57 
7 21 
17 
14 
25 
38 
8 Sun 
Septuagesima Sunday. 
30.144 — 29.856 
49—28 
N.W, 
— 
30 
69 
8 46 
18 
14 
28 
39 
9 M 
30.375 —30.326 
51—36 
N.E. 
— 
29 
V 
10 8 
19 
14 
30 
40 
10 Tu 
Queen Victoria married 1840. 
30.049 — 30.306 
42—23 
E. 
— 
27 
2 
11 30 
20 
14 
31 
41 
11 W 
30.250 — 30.208 
47—23 
N.E. 
02 
25 
4 
morn. 
21 
14 
32 
42 1 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
CROWFOOTS—RANUN CULACEA2. 
RANUNCULUS. 
Section with Leaves Uncut {Continued from page 263). 
Ranunculus lingua : Great Spear-wort, or Crowfoot. 
Description.— Leaves long, spear-head shaped, somewhat 
toothed, nearly stalkless : stem upright, many-llowered. A 
much larger plant than R. flammula. Leaves in length equal 
to many times their breadth, ending in a long taper point, but 
in R.flammula they are in length only three or four times 
their breadth, and do not end in a long point. Blossom 
large, deep yellow. Stem three or four feet high. Calyx 
hairy. Plant usually silky, with close-lying hairs; but the 
degree of hairiness seems to vary, and sometimes the leaves 
are entire. Ned. covered by a small scale. Seeds not rough, 
but marked with dots. Roots fibrous and perennial. 
Places where found. —Wet pastures, sides of ditches, 
and ponds. Not common. 
Time of Flowering. —June and July. 
History. —Linmeus gave it the specific name of lingua, 
because it had been surmised that it is the Lingua mentioned 
by Pliny. The herb is acrid. Parkinson calls it “ The 
Greater Marsh Spearwort." 
Ranunculus gramineus : Grass-leaved Crowfoot. 
Description.— Root tuberous, with several thick fleshy 
fibres, and crowned with the thready remains of old leaves. 
Stem about a foot high, round, smooth, erect, bearing from 
one to three or four bright yellow, rather large, flowers, and 
a few small stalkless leaves. Most of the leaves rise from the 
crown of the roots, on short sheathing stalks, grassy, narrow, 
sharp-pointed, milky green, numerously ribbed. Cal. quite 
smooth, spreading, not bending outwards. Nect. a tubular 
scale. P>otanists have confounded with this several synonyms 
belonging to R. pyrenceus of Linnaeus. 
Places where found. —Dry mountain pastures in Wales. 
Time of Flowering. —May and June. 
History. —Usually called Grassy Crowfoot. Its yellow 
flowers distinguish it from R. pyrenceus, on which they are 
white. It was cultivated by Gerarde in 1596, and it seems 
doubtful whether it is really a native of our islands. Wither¬ 
ing seems to intimate that it was first found here by Mr. 
Pritchard, in North Wales. 
Ranunculus ficaria : Pilewort Crowfoot, or Lesser Ce¬ 
landine. (See Engraving.) 
Description. — Root fibrous, accompanied with many 
fleshy, oblong, annual tubers. Herb smooth, of a bright 
shining green, rather succulent. Stems either erect or 
recumbent, from three to ten inches long, branched, leafy. 
Leaves alternate, stalked, heart-shaped, angular or wavy at 
the margin, sometimes spotted with black. Footstalks longer 
than the leaves ; dilated, membranous, and sheathing at 
the base. FI. terminal, solitary, on long stalks. Cal. of 
3, rarely more, roundish, concave leaves. Pet. elliptic- 
oblong, generally 9, often 8 or 10, of a golden yellow, as if 
varnished; turning white by the action ©f light. Nect. a 
small hollow in the base of each petal, closed with a scale. 
Places where found. —Meadows, pastures, and hedge- 
banks. Very common. 
Time of Flowering. —April. 
History. —Some botanists have this as a separate genus, 
under the names Ficaria vcrna and F. ranunculoides, It is 
called ficaria from the tubers being shaped like the fig 
{ficus). Besides those tubers, bulbs about the size of a 
wheat grain, capable of growing, are sometimes found be- j 
tween the leaf-stalks. These fertile bulbs are the more ! 
needed because the seed usually fails. This arises from its ’ 
blooming earlier than the other Crowfoots, and consequently 
having its parts of fructification injured by frosts, though 
to protect those parts it has the power of closing its petals 
in the evening until nine in the morning. Linnreus tells us 
that in some parts of Sweden the young leaves, in spring, are 
boiled by the common people, and eaten by them as greens; 
but, though milder than most of the other species, it is 
rather acrid. There was once an ignorant doctrine of simi¬ 
litudes or “ signatures,” in medicine; a doctrine which 
taught that what was like any part of the human body, either 
in a healthy or diseased state, was beneficial for such disease. 
Hence the name of Pilewort, for its tubers resemble some¬ 
what the Piles, and thence the plant was recommended as 
their cure. Parkinson says it is also called Figwort. Cul¬ 
pepper says that the decoction of the leaves and roots is 
good against Piles; and that made into an ointment and 
applying it to the places affected with Scrofula or King’s 
Evil, he cured his own daughter. Goats and sheep eat it, 
but it is rejected by horses and cows. A small weevil, Cur- 
cidio dorsalis, is found upon it. On this, and on Ranunculus 
acris, occur the little parasitical fungus CEcidium ficariee. 
It has attracted more than one poet’s attention, and we re¬ 
member Wordsworth’s allusion to it as “ the little humble 
Celandine,” and Charlotte Smith, describing her early but¬ 
terfly, says:— 
With wavering wing he settles now 
Where Pilewort spreads its blossoms fair; 
Or on the grass where daisies blow, 
Pausing, he rests his pinions there. 
— {Smith's English Flora. Withering, Mariya's Miller. 
Parkinson, Ray.) 
Meteorology op the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations 
during the last twenty-five years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 45.8° and 32.3° respectively. The greatest 
heat, 65°, occurred on the 10th in 1831 ; and the lowest cold, 3° below 
zero, on the 11th in 1815. During the period 97 days were fine, and on 
"8 rain fell. 
Ho. C'LXXY, Yet. YIII 
