Ranunculus bulbosus |
Ranunculus flammula |
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bulbous buttercup, bulbous crowfoot, renoncule bulbeuse, St. Anthony's-turnip |
creeping buttercup, creeping crowfoot, creeping spearwort, greater creeping spearwort, lesser spearwort, lesser water buttercup, spearwort |
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Roots | never tuberous. |
not thickened basally, glabrous. |
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Stems | erect, never rooting nodally, strigose or hirsute, base bulbous and cormlike. |
erect to prostrate, usually rooting nodally, glabrous or sparsely strigose. |
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Basal leaf | blades ovate to cordate in outline, 3-foliolate, rarely merely deeply divided, 2–5.3 × 2.4–5.4 cm, leaflets 1–2x-lobed, ultimate segments oblong to obovate, margins toothed, apex rounded in outline. |
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Proximal cauline leaf blades | lanceolate to oblanceolate or filiform, 0.7-6.5 × 0.04-1 cm, base acute to filiform, margins entire or serrulate, apex acute to filiform. |
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Inflorescences | bracts lanceolate to oblanceolate. |
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Flowers | receptacle pubescent; sepals reflexed 2–3 mm above base, 6–9 × 2–4 mm, pilose; petals 5, yellow, 9–13 × 8–11 mm. |
receptacle glabrous; sepals 5, spreading or weakly reflexed, 1.5-4 × 1-2 mm, glabrous or appressed-hispid; petals 5-6, 2.5-7 × 1-4 mm; nectary scales glabrous. |
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Heads of achenes | ovoid, 6–9 × 5–7 mm; achenes 2.2–3.2 × 2.2–2.8 mm, glabrous, margin forming narrow rib 0.1–0.2 mm wide; beak persistent, lanceolate to deltate, 0.2–0.8 mm, slender tip hooked when present. |
globose or hemispheric, 2-4 × 3-4 mm; achenes 1.2-1.6 × 1-1.4 mm, glabrous; beak lanceolate to linear, straight or curved, 0.1-0.6 mm. |
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Ranunculus bulbosus |
Ranunculus flammula |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr–Jun). | |||||||||
Habitat | Meadows | |||||||||
Elevation | 0–700 m (0–2300 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; CT; DC; DE; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WA; WV; BC; NF; NS; ON; QC; South America; native to Eurasia; Pacific Islands; Australia [Introduced in North America]
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AK; AZ; CA; CO; CT; ID; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; ND; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OR; PA; UT; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Eurasia
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Discussion | Ranunculus bulbosus is native to Europe and the Near East but has become naturalized in many other parts of the world. It is considered an introduced weed in the flora. The Iroquois used Ranunculus bulbosus as a toothache remede and as a a treatment for venereal disease (D. E. Moerman 1986). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). In Eurasia, this taxon is usually treated as two closely related species. Ranunculus flammula in the strict sense has relatively stout (0.8-3 mm thick) stems that are erect or ascending from prostrate bases, lanceolate to oblanceolate leaves 3-10 mm broad, sepals 3-4 mm, and petals 5-7 × 3-4 mm. Ranunculus reptans has slender (0.2-1 mm thick) stems that are usually prostrate except for the pedicels, leaves linear or filiform, to 2 mm broad, sepals 1-2 mm, and petals 3-5 × 1-2.5 mm. In North America, this distinction holds up relatively well east of the Great Plains, where plants with the characteristics of R. flammula in the strict sense are found in eastern Canada (Newfoundland and northern Nova Scotia) while plants with the characteristics of R. reptans are widespread. In the western part of the continent, however, the situation is much less clear. Collections from the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains resemble R. reptans in most characters, but they often have broader leaves (up to 5 mm broad). Plants from farther west are very confusing; specimens showing the typical morphology of R. flammula in the strict sense and R. reptans are found over a wide area, but most specimens from this area combine the characteristics of the two taxa in various ways. For this reason, it is not possible to separate these taxa at the species level. Three varieties are usually recognized, but further study will probably alter the varietal classification (see comments below, under R. flammula var. ovalis). (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. Ranunculus > sect. Ranunculus | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Flammula | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | R. bulbosus var. dissectus, R. bulbosus var. valdepubens | |||||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 554. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 548. (1753) | ||||||||
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