Ranunculus acris
Ranunculus sceleratus
acrid buttercup, bouton d'or, meadow buttercup, renoncule âcre, tall buttercup, tall crowfoot
blister buttercup, celery-leaf buttercup, celery-leaf crowfoot, cursed buttercup, cursed crowfoot, cursed crowsfoot, renoncule scélérate
never tuberous.
erect from short caudex or rhizome, never rooting nodally, hispid, strigose, or glabrous, base not bulbous.
erect, glabrous, rooting at base, only very rarely rooting at proximal nodes.
basal and cauline, basal and proximal cauline leaf blades reniform to semicircular in outline, 3-lobed or -parted, 1-5 × 1.6-6.8 cm, base truncate to cordate, segments usually again lobed or parted, sometimes undivided, margins crenate or crenate-lobulate, apex rounded or occasionally obtuse.
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.
receptacle glabrous;
sepals spreading, 4-6(-9) × 2-5 mm, hispid;
petals 5, yellow, 8-11(-17) × 7-13 mm.
receptacle pubescent or glabrous;
sepals 3-5, reflexed from or near base, 2-5 × 1-3 mm, glabrous or sparsely hirsute;
petals 3-5, 2-5 × 1-3 mm;
nectary on petal surface, scale poorly developed and forming crescent-shaped or circular ridge surrounding but not covering nectary;
style absent.
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.
ellipsoid or cylindric heads, 5-13 × 3-7 mm;
achenes 1-1.2 × 0.8-1 mm, glabrous;
beak deltate, usually straight, 0.1 mm.
= 14.
Ranunculus acris
Ranunculus sceleratus
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.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Ranunculus sceleratus varieties were used by the Thompson Indians as a poison for their arrow points (D. E. Moerman 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Faces of achene with fine transverse wrinkles; leaf blades lobed or parted, segments undivided or lobed, margins crenate. | var. sceleratus |
1. Faces of achene smooth; leaf blades always parted (often deeply so), segments lobed or parted, margins deeply crenate or lobulate. | var. multifidus |
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
- Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA
- Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, Go Botany, IL Wildflowers, KS Wildflowers,
LA Plants, MD Biodiversity, MI Flora, MN Wildflowers, MO Plants, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. - WildflowerSearch
- iNaturalist (observations)
- USDA Plants Database
- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
