Ranunculus cymbalaria |
Ranunculus flammula |
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alkali buttercup, renoncule cymbalaire, seaside buttercup, seaside crowfoot, shore buttercup |
creeping buttercup, creeping crowfoot, creeping spearwort, greater creeping spearwort, lesser spearwort, lesser water buttercup, spearwort |
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Roots | not thickened basally, glabrous. |
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Stems | dimorphic, flowering stems erect or ascending, stolons prostrate, rooting nodally, glabrous or sparsely hirsute, not bulbous-based. |
erect to prostrate, usually rooting nodally, glabrous or sparsely strigose. |
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Basal leaves | simple and undivided, blades oblong to cordate or circular, 0.7-3.8 × 0.8-3.2 cm, base rounded to cordate, margins crenate or crenate-serrate, apex rounded. |
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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 hispid or glabrous; sepals spreading, 2.5-6 × 1.5-3 mm, glabrous; petals 5, yellow, 2-7 × 1-3 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 | long-ovoid or cylindric, 6-12 × 4-5(-9) mm; achenes 1-1.4(-2.2) × 0.8-1.2 mm, glabrous; beak persistent, conic, straight, 0.1-0.2 mm. |
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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Tuberous | roots absent. |
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2n | = 16. |
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Ranunculus cymbalaria |
Ranunculus flammula |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer (May–Sep). | |||||||||
Distribution |
Bogs; marshes; ditches; stream banks; often saline
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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 | Various Navaho groups used Ranunculus cymbalaria as a venereal aid, an emetic, and a ceremonial medicine. The Kawaiisu used it as a dermatological aid (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. Cyrtorhyncha > sect. Halodes | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Flammula | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Halerpestes cymbalaria, R. cymbalaria var. alpinus, R. cymbalaria var. saximontanus | |||||||||
Name authority | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 392. (1814) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 548. (1753) | ||||||||
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