Ranunculus acris |
Ranunculus inamoenus |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
acrid buttercup, bouton d'or, meadow buttercup, renoncule âcre, tall buttercup, tall crowfoot |
graceful buttercup, unlovely buttercup |
|||||
Roots | never tuberous. |
slender, 0.6-1.2 mm thick. |
||||
Stems | erect from short caudex or rhizome, never rooting nodally, hispid, strigose, or glabrous, base not bulbous. |
erect, 5-33 cm, pilose or glabrous, each with 3-7 flowers. |
||||
Basal leaves | blades pentagonal in outline, deeply 3-5-parted, 1.8-5.2 × 2.7-9.8 cm, segments 1-2x-lobed or -parted, ultimate segments narrowly elliptic or oblong to lanceolate, margins toothed or lobulate, apex acute to rounded. |
persistent, blades ovate, obovate or orbiculate, rarely reniform, undivided or innermost with 2 clefts or partings near apex, 1-3.7 × 1.1-3.5 cm, base acute to rounded, margins entire, apex rounded. |
||||
Flowers | receptacle glabrous; sepals spreading, 4-6(-9) × 2-5 mm, hispid; petals 5, yellow, 8-11(-17) × 7-13 mm. |
pedicels appressed-pubescent; receptacle pilose or glabrous; sepals 3-5 × 2-3 mm, abaxially pilose, hairs colorless; petals 5, 4-9 × 2-5 mm; nectary scale glabrous. |
||||
Heads of achenes | globose, 5-7(-10) mm wide; achenes 2-3 × 1.8-2.4 mm, glabrous, margin forming narrow rib 0.1-0.2 mm wide; beak persistent, deltate, usually with tip short or long, straight or curved, subulate, 0.2-1 mm. |
cylindric, 7-17 × 5-8 mm; achenes 1.5-2 × 1.3-1.8 mm, canescent or glabrous; beak subulate, straight or hooked, 0.4-2 mm. |
||||
2n | = 14. |
|||||
Ranunculus acris |
Ranunculus inamoenus |
|||||
Phenology | Flowering spring–summer (May–Sep). | |||||
Habitat | Meadows, stream banks, roadsides, and old fields | |||||
Elevation | 0-2300 m (0-7500 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AK; AL; AZ; CA; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; SPM; South America; Pacific Islands; Greenland; Eurasia; Australia [Largely introduced]
|
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NE; NM; NV; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
|
||||
Discussion | Ranunculus acris is variable in form and division of leaves, size of achene beak, and form of indument on the proximal stem. Most North American plants are weedy and have poorly differentiated caudices; these forms probably were introduced from Eurasia. Rhizomatous plants with large flowers (parenthetic measurements above) found in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and in Greenland are probably native. Aleutian populations of this form have been called R. acris var. frigidus Regel or R. grandis Honda var. austrokurilensis (Tatewaki) H. Hara. Both names were originally applied to Asiatic plants, and their applicability to American specimens is open to question. Some Native American tribes used Ranunculus acris as an analgesic, a dermatological or oral aid, an antidiarrheal, antihermorrhagic, and a sedative (D. E. Moerman 1986). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The Navaho-Ramah considered Ranunculus inamoenus to be an effective hunting medicine, used to protect hunters from their prey (D. E. Moerman 1986). Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. | ||||
Parent taxa | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Ranunculus | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Epirotes | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | R. acris var. latisectus | |||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 554. (1753) | Greene: Pittonia 3: 91. (1896) | ||||
Web links |
|