Crowfoot

Crowfoot, the popular name, derived from the deeply-divided leaves, of many species of Ranunculus (q.v.). As our terrestrial, yellow-flowered forms are now generally known as buttercups (q.v.), the name crowfoot is especially retained for the white-flowered aquatic species, the sub-genus Batrachium, or water-crowfoots. These commonly have leaves either broad, slightly lobed, and floating, or much divided into linear segments and submerged, in neither case resembling "crow-toes," as Shakspeare has it.