Ranunculus aquatilis |
Ranunculus gelidus |
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renoncule aquatique, water buttercup, water crowfoot, white water butter cup, white water crowfoot, white water crowsfoot, white western buttercup |
arctic buttercup, modest buttercup, wetslope buttercup |
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Roots | slender, 0.5-1 mm thick. |
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Stems | glabrous. |
erect or decumbent from short caudices, 3-22 cm, glabrous, each with 1-5 flowers. |
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Leaves | laminate and filiform-dissected; laminate leaf blades reniform, 3-parted, 0.4-1.1 × 0.7-2.3 cm, segments obovate or fan-shaped, shallowly cleft, margins crenate; filiform-dissected leaves with stipules gradually tapering upward, connate for their whole length. |
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Basal leaves | persistent, blades cordate or reniform, 3-parted, 0.5-1.8 × 0.8-3 cm, segments again lobed, base truncate or nearly cordate, apices of segments rounded. |
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Flowers | receptacle hispid, rarely glabrous; sepals spreading or reflexed, 2-4 × 1-2 mm, glabrous; petals 5, 4-7 × 1-5 mm; style 0.1-0.8 mm. |
pedicels pubescent or glabrous; receptacle glabrous or pubescent; sepals 3-5 × 1-4 mm, pubescent or glabrous; petals 5, 3-6 × 1-5 mm; nectary scale glabrous. |
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Fruiting pedicels | usually recurved. |
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Heads of achenes | hemispheric to ovoid, 2-4 × 2-5 mm; achenes 1-2 × 0.8-1.4 mm, glabrous or hispid; beak persistent, filiform, 0.1-1.2 mm. |
cylindric to ovoid-cylindric, 4-13 × 4-6 mm; achenes 1.2-2.4 × 0.8-2 mm, glabrous; beak subulate, curved or hooked, 0.4-0.8 mm. |
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2n | = 16. |
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Ranunculus aquatilis |
Ranunculus gelidus |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer (Jun–Aug). | |||||
Habitat | Open arctic and alpine slopes | |||||
Elevation | 0-4000 m (0-13100 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Eurasia
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AK; CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; YT; Asia
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Ranunculus aquatilis is very variable. In the past it has often been treated as three or four species and many varieties. These segregate taxa have been based on the size, petiolation and rigidity of the leaves (now known to be primarily under environmental control), petal size and curvature of the fruiting pedicel (both sometimes variable along single stem), and number of achenes per head and length of achene beak (which vary continuously and are not correlated with one another). Unless reliable characters can be found, only two of the taxa recognized in older floras can be maintained. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Plants with small achenes are often separated as Ranunculus verecundus. Achene size varies continuously over the range given, however, and it is not correlated with the minor shape difference mentioned by L. D. Benson (1948). (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. | ||||
Parent taxa | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Batrachium | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Epirotes | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Batrachium aquatile | R. gelidus subsp. grayi, R. grayi, R. verecundus | ||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 556. (1753) | Karelin & Kirilov: Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 15: 133. (1842) | ||||
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