It bears a considerable affinity to the _Dracocephalum virginianum_, to which, though a much rarer plant, it is inferior in point of beauty; it spreads more on the ground, its flowering stems are not altogether so upright, nor so tall, the leaves are broader, and the flowers in the spikes less numerous.
RANUNCULUS ACRIS FLORE PLENO. DOUBLE UPRIGHT CROWFOOT.
_Cal._ 5-phyllus. _Petala_ 5, intra ungues poro mellisero. _Sem._ nuda.
RANUNCULUS _acris_ calycibus patulis, pedunculis teretibus, foliis tripartito multifidis: summis linearibus. _Linn. Syst. Veg. ed. 14. Murr. p. 517._
RANUNCULUS hortensis erectus flore pleno. _Bauh. Pin. p. 178. ?._
RANUNCULUS pratensis flore multiplici. _Park. Parad. p. 218._
In giving a representation of this species of Ranunculus, we have made a slight deviation from the strict letter of our plan, as expressed in the title page, which confines us to the figuring of foreign plants only; we have thought, however, that it would not be inconsistent with the spirit of the _Flower-Garden Displayed_, were we occasionally to introduce such English plants as have double flowers, and which, on that account, are thought worthy of a place in every garden; they are but few in number, and we flatter ourselves that this trifling alteration will be approved by our numerous readers.
The _Ranunculus acris_ is the first that we offer of these; a plant, in its wild and single state, common in all our rich meadows, and in its improved, or to speak more botanically, in its monstrous state (all double flowers being monsters, for the most part formed from the preternatural multiplication of their petals) it has long been cultivated in gardens abroad, as well as here.
There are certain ornamental plants of the perennial kind, which, if once introduced, will succeed with the least possible trouble, and therefore suit such as have little time to bestow on their flower-gardens; the present plant is one of those: if the soil in which we plant it be moist, it will grow most readily, and flower during the months of June and July; and it is easily increased, by parting its roots in autumn.
CYPRIPEDIUM ALBUM. WHITE-PETAL'D LADIES SLIPPER.
CYPRIPEDIUM _album_ radicibus fibrosis foliis ovato-lanceolatis caulinis, petalis obtusis. _Ait. Hort. Kew. V. 3. p. 303._