Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds.

Time of bloom: April to May.

Seed-time: Late May to July.

Range: New England and Ontario to Manitoba, southward to the

Carolinas, Texas, and Arkansas. Habitat: Hillsides; upland fields and pastures.

The earliest of the Buttercups;• it springs from a tuft or bundle of roots, which look as though meant to be fibrous but are thickened and fleshy. Stems tufted, six inches to a foot high, the whole plant covered with fine, silky, close-pressed hairs. Leaves small, three-parted, the terminal segment long-stalked and again thrice divided; the petioles slender. Flowers almost an inch broad, glossy yellow, often with more than five petals, which are spatulate and much longer than the spreading calyx. Seed-head globose, each achene tipped with a curved and awl-like beak about as long as itself. (Fig. 106.)

Means Of Control

The hilly nature of the ground on which this weed grows best very often forbids its cultivation because the fertile top soil is in danger of washing down the slopes. But cattle reject the plant, the seeds mature and scatter, and the weed gradually encroaches until the turf is ruined. The best remedy is deep hoe-cutting in the first days of bloom..