Ranunculus Gramineus. Grass-Leaved Crowfoot.

Class and Order:

Polyandria Polygnia.

Generic Character:

Calyx 5-phyllus. Petala 5 intra ungues poro mellifero. Semina nuda.

Specific Character and Synonyms:

RANUNCULUS gramineus foliis lanceolato linearibus indivisis, caule erecto laevissimo paucifloro. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 515. Ait. Hort. Kew. p. 265.

RANUNCULUS gramineo folio bulbosus. Bauh. Pin. 181?

RANUNCULUS montanus folio gramineo. Bauh. Pin. 180.

RANUNCULUS gramineus. Grasse leafed Crowfoot. Park. Parad. p. 218. 221. f. i.

This species of Ranunculus, an inhabitant of the dry pastures South of France and Italy, and a hardy herbaceous plant of ready growth, recommends itself by the earliness of its flowering and the delicate glaucous colour of its foliage. Parkinson figures it with double flowers, though he describes it with semi-double ones only; we have not observed either of these varieties in the gardens about London, they have most probably fallen victims to the rage for novelty, at the shrine of which many a fair and goodly flower is yearly sacrificed.

It flowers towards the end of April, and is propagated by parting its roots in autumn.

The synonyms of this and other species of Ranunculus described in Gerard's Fl. Gallopr. are very inaccurately quoted in Professor Murray's edition of the Syst. Vegetab.