Caltha palustris |
Ranunculaceae |
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buttercup, cowflock, cowslip, kingcup, marsh-marigold, populage des marais, soucis d'eau, western marshmarigold, yellow marsh-marigold |
buttercup family, crowfoot family |
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Habit | Herbs, sometimes woody or herbaceous climbers or low shrubs, perennial or annual, often rhizomatous. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | leafy, permanently erect, or sprawling with age and producing roots and shoots at nodes. |
unarmed. |
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Leaves | blade undivided or more commonly divided or compound, base cordate, sometimes truncate or cuneate, margins entire, toothed, or incised; venation pinnate or palmate. |
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Basal leaves | blade rounded to ovate, reniform, or cordate, largest (0.5-)2-12.5 × (1-)2-19 cm, margins entire or crenate to dentate. |
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Inflorescences | 1-7-flowered. |
terminal or axillary, racemes, cymes, umbels, panicles, or spikes, or flowers solitary, flowers pedicellate or sessile. |
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Flowers | 10-45 mm diam.; sepals yellow or orange, (6-)10-25 mm. |
bisexual, sometimes unisexual, inconspicuous or showy, radially or bilaterally symmetric; sepaloid bracteoles absent; perianth hypogynous; sepals usually imbricate, 3-6(-20), distinct, often petaloid and colored, occasionally spurred; petals 0-26, distinct (connate in Consolida), plane, cup-shaped, funnel-shaped, or spurred, conspicuous or greatly reduced; nectary usually present, rarely absent; stamens 5-many, distinct; anthers dehiscing longitudinally; staminodes absent (except in Aquilegia and Clematis); pistils 1-many; styles present or absent, often persistent in fruit as beak. |
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Fruits | achenes, follicles, or rarely utricles, capsules, or berries, often aggregated into globose to cylindric heads. |
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Seeds | elliptic, 1.5-2.5 mm. |
1-many per ovary, never stalked, not arillate; endosperm abundant; embryo usually small. |
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Follicles | 5-15(-25), spreading, sessile, ellipsoid; bodies 8-15 × 3-4.5 mm; style and stigma straight or curved, 0.5-2 mm. |
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2n | =32, 56, 60. |
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Caltha palustris |
Ranunculaceae |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer (Apr–Jul). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Marshes, fens, ditches, wet woods and swamps, thriving best in open or only partly shaded sites | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AK; CT; DE; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Eurasia
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Worldwide |
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Discussion | Caltha palustris has been divided into different taxa, although plants have been most commonly assigned to two varieties in North America. Typical C. palustris var. palustris is characterized by permanently erect, stout stems that do not produce roots and shoots at the nodes after anthesis. The basal leaves are broadly cordate to reniform with coarsely crenate-dentate margins and overlapping basal lobes. Generally more than three flowers occur on a stem. In contrast, C. palustris var. flabellifolia [= var. arctica, var. radicans (T. F. Forster) Beck] is characterized by stems that sprawl with age and produce roots and shoots at the nodes after anthesis. The basal leaves are ± reniform with denticulate margins, and the basal lobes are widely divergent and do not overlap. Often fewer than three flowers occur on a stem. Caltha palustris var. flabellifolia is distributed locally throughout the range of C. palustris var. palustris; it often grows in places with more extreme environmental conditions, such as shorelines, tidal areas, swiftly running streams and rivers, and areas with an arctic climate. Many arctic specimens can be assigned to this variety. While Caltha palustris var. palustris and var. flabellifolia are distinctive in their extremes, they appear to represent elements along a morphologic continuum rather than recognizable taxonomic entities. For example, P.G. Smit (1973) found plants from Point Barrow, Alaska, to be dwarfed, few flowered, and prostrate, while specimens from southern Alaska were robust, many flowered, and erect. Between these two extremes a complete series of intermediates occurs. Based on that evidence, and considering the phenotypic plasticity known to exist in this species, the various specific and infraspecific segregates of C. palustris in North America are not recognized. Native Americans used various preparations of the roots of Caltha palustris medicinally to treat colds and sores, as an aid in childbirth and to induce vomiting, and as a protection against love charms; infusions of leaves were taken for constipation (D. E. Moerman 1986). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera ca. 60, species 1700 (22 genera, 284 species in the flora). The flowers of many species of Ranunculaceae begin to open long before anthesis, while the floral organs are just partly expanded. Only mature flowers with open anthers should be used for determination of diagnostic characteristics (especially measurements). The literature is inconsistent about the term for the whorl of organs between sepals and stamens; these may be conspicuous and petaloid, or reduced to stalked nectaries, or intermediate between the two states. They have been called petals, honey-leaves, or (when they are inconspicuous) staminodes or nectaries. We follow M. Tamura (1993) and treat as petals all organs between the sepals and stamens, except in Clematis and Aquilegia where they usually bear rudimentary anthers and clearly represent staminodes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3, p. 85. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Ranunculaceae > Caltha | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | C. arctica, C. asarifolia, C. palustris subsp. arctica, C. palustris subsp. asarifolia, C. palustris var. arctica, C. palustris var. asarifolia, C. palustris var. flabellifolia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 558. (1753) | Jussieu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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