THE RANUCULUS, OR BUTTERCUP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 10

THE RANUCULUS, OR BUTTERCUP.

A correspondent writes asking for some particulars of the buttercup, which he has been" informed gives an objectionable taste to the milk when cows graze in a paddock where buttercups abound. There are about 20 species of buttercups, golden-cups, and kings-cups natives of Great Britain, and probably most of these are to be found in New Zealand, in addition to some that are natives. The following particulars are from the Australasian :— The Bouton d'Argent of the French, or white bachelor's button of the Enqlieh, is R. aconitifolius. The flowers of this variety are neat and

pretty, pure white, and very double, and of easy culture. There is an exquisitely pretty alpine buttercup (R. amplexicaulis) ; it has the purity of the flower of the snowdrop. R. Lyalli is known as the " New Zealand water lily." It is a hardy, herbaceous, semi-aquatic perennial. Some of the members of this rather extensive family possess acrid and noxious properties, and their introduction is by no means recommended. Authorities are divided on the value of some of the species. The common R. acris possesses the property of blistering, hence the name given to it by Linnaeus. Curtis says that even pulling up the plani and carrying it to some little distance has produced a considerable inflammation in the palm of the 4iand; that cattle Ln general will not eat it ; yet that sometimes when they are turned hungry into a nCw field of grass, or have but a small spot to range in, they will feed on it, and hence their mouths have become sore and blistered. According to Linnaeus, sheep and goats eat it, but kine, horses, and swine refuse it. When ma<te into hay it loses its acrid qU Loudon says of R. sceleratus that it is one of the most virulent of English native plants. Bruised and applied to the skin ft soon raises a blister, and makes a sore by no means easy to heal. Strolling beggars have been said to use it for that purpose in order to excite compassion. When chewed it inflames the tongue, and when taken into the stomach it produces violent effects. It is suspected to have proved poisonous to sheep. The " water crowfoot " (R. aquatilhs) produces flowers which are very large, and it makes a handsome show in ponds, both when in bloom and from its floating and immersed leaves. It was once thought to have deleterious qualities, but it has been proved to be not merely innoxious, but nutritive to cattle, and capable of being converted to useful purposes in agricultural economy. In the neighbourhood of Ringwood, on the borders of the Avon, some of the cottagers support their cows, and even horses, almost wholly by this plant. A. man oolleofcs » quantity every -morning and brings it in a boat to the edge of the water, from which the rows eat it with great avidity. Only about 251b to 301b is allowed daily to each cow. Hogs also are fed with this plant, and improve so well on it that it is not necessary to give them anything else till they are put up to fatten. At the same time it is said that this species may be rendered inert as a poison by growing in the water. R. repens is an obnoxious plant to both the gardener and farmer. Sometimes it is found procumbent^-as its name implies — but in marshy land it may be found three or four feet high. In taste it is very acrid, and the plant will cause the skin to blister. Nearly all the .plants of the buttercup family have dazzlingly yellow floweis; but only a few, and those we have mentioned, are worthy of cultivation-