25. R. nitidus ; glabriusculus, foliis radicalibus longissime petiolatis ternatis, foliolis
petiolatis profunde trifidis tripartitisve, segmentis lato-lanceolatis trifidis incisis, caulinis
supremis sublinearibus integris trifidisve, calyce patente demum reflexo subhirsuto, capi-
tulo subrotando, carpellis orbicularibus compressis marginatis breviter mucronatis.—
Muhl. Cat. (non Walter.) Elliott, Carol, v. 2. p . 61.—R. septentrionalis. Pursh, FI. Am.
v. 2. p. 395.?—R. Carolinianus. De Cand. Syst. Veget. v. 1. p. 292, Prodr. v. 1. p. 40.
Hab. Abundant on the lower fertile plains of the .Columbia, where it attains the height of from 1£ to 2£
feet, extending to the mountain vallies, where it is of humbler growth. Douglas. Canada. Mrs. Percival.—
Allied to R. hispidus and R. Pennsylvanicus: but almost quite glabrous in all its parts, and the leaves are of
a remarkably thin and membranaceous texture. I have compared it with the R. nitidus of Mr. Elliott, whose
specimens are from Georgia, and I find it to be in every particular the same. Mr. C. S. Parker finds it on
the Ohio; so that, in all probability, it is a general plant in North America.
26. R. recurvatus; caule erecto folioso petiolisque patentim villosis, foliis omnibus
petiolatis 3-partitis, segmentis ovatis acutis incisis, sepalis patentibus demum reflexis
pilosis, petalis ellipticis plerumque abortivis, carpellis stylo uncinato.—Poiret, Encyc. 6. p.
123. Pursh, FI. Am. v. 2. p. 394. De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. p. 39. De Less. Ic. v. 1. t. 41.
(excellent.) Schlecht. Animadv. Sect. 2. p. 28.
/3. Nelsonii, foliorum lobis approximatis, pedicellis adpresse pilosis folii longitudinis.—
De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. p. 40.
y. caule foliisque glabriusculis.
Hab. Labrador. Herb. Banks. Mouth of the Columbia, Douglas, Scouler; near the source of that
river, and on the eastern declivity of the Rocky Mountains, lat. 52° to 55°, in woods and shady'places.
Drummond. (S. Unalaschka. Nelson, y. Mountain woods,, north of the Smoking River. Drummond.
Canada. Todd.—Flowers, generally, as figured by De Lessert, with abortive petals. Mr. Douglas’s specimens
from the North-West coast have the petals thrice as long as the calyx. The style varies in length,
but is always recurved. The carpels compressed, margined, minutely dotted. The leaves, stems, and petioles
very variable in hairiness. Peduncles, too, sometimes very short, so that the flowers are hid among the
foliage j at other times much elongated.
27. R. fascicularis ; appresso-pilosus, caule subramoso brevi, foliis longe petiolatis ternatis
quinato-pinnatisve, segmentis oblongo-obovatis cuneatisve pinnatifido-lobatis, calyce
patente villoso petalis duplo breviore, capitulis rotundatis, carpellis subrotundis compressis,
stylo subseque lohgo recurvato. (Tab. VIII. B.)—Muhl. in Bigel. FI. Bost. ed. 2. p. 226.
De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. p. 411. Schlecht. Animadv. Sect. 2. p. 31.
/3. magis hirsutus.
H ab. Canada, to the south end of Lake Winipeg. Cleghom. Dr. Richardson. Drummond.—A very
distinct species, in habit most allied to R. bulbosus, especially in the leaves being much more compound
than is usual in this genus. Root densely fasciculated, throwing up from its crown many leaves and stems,
the latter scarcely exceeding the former in length, and both pubescent or pilose, with appressed hairs. In
some of Dr. Torrey’s specimens from New York, the outermost leaves are simply 3-lobed; in Dr. Boott’s
plants, from near Boston, the very outermost of the radical leaves are ternate, with obovate and somewhat
incised leaflets: but in most instances-these leaflets are again deeply divided, the middle always much
petiolate, and itself often ternately divided, so that the whole leaf is pinnated, with four lateral and one terminal
(always petiolated) leaflets, and these variously cut, and divided; those of the stem are generally
situated on long petioles. The petals are as variable as the leaves, obovate, oval, and oblongo-elliptical,
mostly 5, but sometimes 6 or 7. Carpels large, collected into a globose head, roundish, or inclining to
obovate, compressed,,quite glabrous, marginated, the margin tapering upwards into a recurved filiform style,
flat, broad, and membranous at the base, about equal in length with the carpel.
Dr. Bigelow, or Muhlenberg in Bigelow’s Flora of Boston, is the authority for R. fascicularis ; and our
Canadian specimens in every particular agree with those I have received from Dr. Bigelow and Dr. Boott
from Boston. Schlechtendal appears to have seen quite another plant in Willdenow’s Herbarium, under
this name, which hehas figured in his “ Animadversationes,” and our specimens of the following species so
entirely agree with it, that I have ventured to consider them the same.
28. R. Schlechtendalii; patente-pilosus, caule subramoso brevi, foliis lono-e petiolatis
corda.to-reniformibus tripartitis, lobis obovatis trifidis laciniatisve, sepalis pilosis patentibus
demum reflexis corolla brevioribus, stylo germinibus subseque longo.—R. fascicularis.
Schlecht. Animadv. Sect. 2. p. 30. t. 2.
Radix fasciculatim fibrosa. Caules spithamsei, 2, 3, vel 4 ex eadem radice, superne ramosi, parce foliosi,
pilosi, pilis patentibus, versus basin etiam reflexi. Folia subhirsuta, ciliata, omnia petiolata, mollia; radl
calia petiolis longissimis; omnia (nisi in summitate caulis, ubi Ianceolata trifida vel subintegra,) cordata vel
reniformia, tripartita, segmentis obovatis, lateralibus bilobis, lobis bi-trifidis, intermedio trifido, laeiniis acutis.
Flores majusculi. Sepala membranacea, patentia, demum reflexa, petalis breviora. Petala obovata, lineata.
Fructus non vidi, sed pistillorum stylus longiusculus, subcurvatus.
Hab. Eastern declivity of the Rocky Mountains, between lat. 52° and 55°, in rich soils: plentiful.
Drummond. This plant agrees in every particular, as far as I can judge without fruit, with the description
and figure above quoted of Schlechtendal’s R. fascicularis, except that his figure represents a slenderer
plant, and one of the leaves has the middle lobe petiolated, and the calyx not reflexed. The rest of the foliage,
the flowers, the patent hairs, the fasciculated root, and whole habit entirely correspond._The species likewise
approaches in habit luxuriant states of R. Eschscholtzii, but the leaves and stalks of R. Schlechtendalii
are always hairy, and its calyx is never clothed with fulvous hairs.
29. B. bulbosus; foliis longe petiolatis ternatis quinato-pinnatisve,; foliolis tri-quinque-
partitis, laeiniis trifidis vel incisis, caule erccto basi bulboso, calyce reflexo, petalis obcor-
datis brevioribus.—Linn. Sp. PI. p. 778. Pursh, PI. Am. v., 2. p . 398. Engl Bot. t. 15.
De Cand. Prodr. v. 1, p. 41.
Hab. Canada. Lady Dalhousie. Newfoundland. Mr. Morrison.
30. R. orthorhynchus ; appresso-pilosus, caule erecto gracili superne ramoso et subfolioso,
foliis radicalibus petiolatis ternatis, foliolis lineari-multifidis apicibus albo-callosis, calyce
reflexo, stylo carpellis longiore recto stricto. (Tab. IX.)
Radix fasciculatim fibrosa, fibris crassis, descendentibus. Totaplanta pilis sparsis, arete appressis, rigidis
tecta. Caulis pedalis ad sesquipedalem, erectus, gracilis, superne dichotome ramosus, ad divisiones ramorum
foliosus, ceteroquin nudus. Folia plerumque radicalia, sublonge petiolata, circumscriptione ovata, ternatim-pin-
natifida, foliolis in laeiniis plurimis, linearibus, acutis, apicibus callosis, pinnatifidis partitis: Caulina sessilia,
laeiniis magis angusta. Pedunculi graciles, elongati. Calyx sepalis ovalibus reflexis, corolla duplo brevioribus!
Petala ovalia, flava, majuscula. Capitula subrotunda, laxa. Carpella late seini-ovata, compressa, minute
punctata, marginata, stylo vel rostro carpellis longiore, recto, stricto, sensim attenuata.
Hab. Not infrequent on the low points of land near rivers, in North-West America. Douglas.—This
most distinct and interesting species of Ranunculus is remarkable for the deeply cleft segments of its leaves,
and their linear lobes, which rather resemble those of some species of Anemone, or of Papaver nudicaule
than any of the North American kinds of Ranunculus.
Tab. IX. R. orthorhynchus. Fig. 1, Capsule :—magnified.