Pennsylvanicus) shows a preference for low-lying meadows and wet,
open ground through a wider, more westerly range. Its stout,
hollow, leafy stem, beset with stiff hairs, discourages the
tongues of grazing animals. June-August.
Commonest of the early buttercups is the TUFTED BUTTERCUP (R.
fascicularis), a little plant seldom a foot high, found in the
woods and on rocky hillsides from Texas and Manitoba, east to the
Atlantic, flowering in April or May. The long-stalked leaves are
divided into from three to five parts; the bright yellow flowers,
with rather narrow, distant petals, measure about an inch across.
They open sparingly, usually only one or two at a time on each
plant, to favor pollination from another one.
Scattered patches of the SWAMP or MARSH BUTTERCUP (P.
septentrionalis) brighten low, rich meadows also with their-large
satiny yellow flowers, whose place in the botany even the
untrained eye knows at sight. The smooth, spreading plant
sometimes takes root at the joints of its branches and sends
forth runners, but the stems mostly ascend.
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