Ranunculus aquatilis
Ranunculus lapponicus
renoncule aquatique, water buttercup, water crowfoot, white water butter cup, white water crowfoot, white water crowsfoot, white western buttercup
Lapland buttercup, renoncule de lapponie
glabrous.
prostrate, buried, rooting nodally, glabrous, not bulbous-based.
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.
blades reniform, deeply 3-parted, 1.1-2.6 × 1.6-4.3 cm, segments undivided or 1x cleft, margins crenate, apex rounded.
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.
receptacle glabrous;
sepals spreading or reflexed from base, 4-7 × 2-5 mm, glabrous;
petals yellow, 5-6 × 2-3 mm.
usually recurved.
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.
hemispheric, 5-7 × 8-10 mm;
achenes 3.8-4.2 × 2-2.2 mm, glabrous;
beak persistent, lanceolate, curved, tip hooked, 1.6-2.4 mm.
roots absent.
= 16.
Ranunculus aquatilis
Ranunculus lapponicus
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.)
Starving individuals among western Eskimo groups ate the soaked plant of Ranunculus lapponicus as a dietary aid before consuming other food (D. E. Moerman 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaves of 2 types: laminate and filiform-dissected; w North America. | var. aquatilis |
1. Leaves all filiform-dissected; widespread. | var. diffusus |
- 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, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
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USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
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