Ranunculus cooleyae |
Ranunculus pusillus |
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Cooley's buttercup |
low buttercup, low spearwort, weak buttercup |
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Roots | not thickened basally, glabrous. |
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Stems | erect from short caudices, not rooting nodally, glabrous, not bulbous-based. |
erect or ascending, rooting at most proximal nodes, glabrous. |
Basal leaf | blades circular to reniform in outline, 3-5-parted, 0.8-3.8 × 1.7-6.9 cm, segments again lobed, ultimate segments elliptic or oblong, margins crenate, apex rounded; cauline leaf 0-1, scalelike. |
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Proximal cauline leaf blades | ovate or lanceolate, 1.2-4.2 × 0.5-1.2 cm, base acute to truncate, margins entire or denticulate, apex acuminate to rounded. |
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Inflorescences | bracts linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate. |
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Flowers | receptacle glabrous; sepals spreading, yellow, 7-11 × 4-7 mm, glabrous; petals 11-15, yellow, 8-12 × 3-5 mm. |
receptacle glabrous; sepals 4-5, spreading or reflexed from base, 1.5-3 × 1-1.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely hirsute; petals 1-3, 1.5-2 × 0.5-1 mm; nectary scales glabrous. |
Heads of achenes | hemispheric or spheric, 7-8 × 9-10 mm; achenes 2.4-4.6 × 1.2-2.2 mm, glabrous; beak persistent, filiform, hooked distally, 1-1.8 mm. |
hemispheric to cylindric, 2-8 × 2-3 mm; achenes 1-1.2 × 0.6-0.8 mm, ± tuberculate, glabrous; beak absent or nearly so, to 0.1 mm. |
Tuberous | roots absent. |
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2n | = 16. |
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Ranunculus cooleyae |
Ranunculus pusillus |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer (Jun–Aug). | Flowering spring (Apr–Jun). |
Habitat | Slopes near persistent snowbanks | Ditches, ponds, and swamps |
Elevation | 500-1800 m (1600-5900 ft) | 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; WA; BC
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AL; AR; CA; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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Discussion | In most specimens of Ranunculus pusillus, the heads of achenes are hemispheric to short-ovate and only 2-3 mm. Occasional plants with cylindric heads of achenes 4-6 mm from the Gulf Coast states have been called R. pusillus var. angustifolius. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Cyrtorhyncha > sect. Arcteranthis | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Flammula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Arcteranthis cooleyae, Kumlienia cooleyae | R. oblongifolius, R. pusillus var. angustifolius, R. tener |
Name authority | Vasey & Rose ex Rose: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 1: 289. (1894) | Poiret: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 6: 99. (1804) |
Web links |