[*] _Receptacle hairy._ 1. R. circinàtus, Sibth. (STIFF WATER-CROWFOOT.) _Leaves_ all under water and _sessile_, with broad conspicuous stipules, the divisions and subdivisions short, spreading in one roundish plane, _rigid, not collapsing when withdrawn from the water_. (R. divaricatus, _Man._, not _Schrank_.)--Ponds and slow streams, Maine and Vt., to Iowa, north and westward, much rarer than the next. June--Aug. (Eu.) 2. R. aquátilis, L., var. trichophýllus, Gray. (COMMON WHITE WATER-CROWFOOT.) _Leaves_ all under water and mostly _petioled_, their capillary divisions and subdivisions _rather long and soft, usually collapsing more or less when withdrawn from the water_; petiole rather narrowly dilated.--Common, especially in slow-flowing waters, the eastern form with more soft and flaccid leaves. June--Aug. (Eu.) Var. cæspitòsus, DC. A dwarf terrestrial form, rooting at the nodes, the small leaves somewhat fleshy, with broader rigid divisions.--S. Ill. (_Schneck_), and westward. [*][*] _Receptacle glabrous; no submersed leaves._ R. HEDERÀCEUS, L. Rooting freely in shallow water; leaves all reniform, angulate-lobed.--Fresh-water marshes at Norfolk, Va. (Nat. from Eu.) § 2. HALÒDES. _Petals yellow, with nectariferous pit and scale; carpels thin-walled, striate, in an oblong head; scapose, spreading by runners._ 3. R. Cymbalària, Pursh. (SEA-SIDE CROWFOOT.) Glabrous; scapes 1--6´ high, 1--7-flowered; leaves clustered at the root and on the joints of the long rooting runners, roundish-heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, crenate, rather fleshy, long-petioled; petals 5--8.--Sandy shores, from New Jersey northward, and along the Great Lakes to Ill., Kan. and westward; also at salt springs. June--Aug. § 3. RANUNCULUS proper. _Petals with a little scale at the base, yellow; achenes nerveless._ [*] _Achenes smooth; mostly perennial._ [+] _Aquatic; immersed leaves filiformly dissected, as in_ § Batrachium. 4. R. multífidus, Pursh. (YELLOW WATER-CROWFOOT.) Stems floating or immersed, with the leaves all repeatedly 3-forked into long filiform divisions, or sometimes creeping in the mud (perennial by rooting from the nodes, if at all); emersed leaves with shorter and linear or wedge-shaped divisions, or else kidney-shaped and sparingly lobed or toothed; petals 5--8, deep bright yellow, 4--6´´ long, much larger than the calyx; carpels in a round head, pointed with a straight beak.--E. New Eng. to S. Penn., Mo., and northward. May--July.--Out of water it is often pubescent, especially in Var. terréstris, Gray. Stem rooting in the mud or ascending from the base; leaves all smaller, coarsely dissected, round-reniform in outline; flowers and fruit twice or thrice smaller.--N. Ohio to N. Ill., Minn., and westward. [+][+] _Terrestrial but growinq in very wet places, glabrous or nearly so; leaves entire or barely toothed, all or else all but the lowest lanceolate or linear; carpels forming a globular head._ (SPEARWORT.)