Ranunculus fascicularis
Ranunculus adoneus
early buttercup, early crowfoot, prairie buttercup, tuft buttercup
alpine buttercup
always both filiform and tuberous on same stem.
slender, 0.8-1.4 mm thick.
erect or ascending, never rooting nodally, strigose or spreading-strigose, base not bulbous.
erect from large caudices, 9-25 cm, glabrous, each with 1-3 flowers.
blades ovate to broadly ovate in outline, 3-5-foliolate, 2.1-4.7 × 1.9-4.5 cm, leaflets undivided or 1x-lobed or -parted, ultimate segments oblanceolate or obovate, margins entire or with few teeth, apex rounded-acute to rounded-obtuse.
persistent, blades circular to reniform in outline, 2-3x-dissected into linear segments, 0.9-2.5 × 1.1-2.8 cm, base obtuse, margins entire, apices of segments narrowly rounded to acute.
receptacle hispid or glabrous;
sepals spreading or sometimes reflexed from base, 5-7 × 2-3 mm, hispid or glabrous;
petals 5(-7), yellow, 8-14 × 3-6 mm.
pedicels glabrous;
receptacle glabrous;
sepals 4-11 × 3-7 mm, abaxially sparsely pilose, hairs colorless;
petals 5-10, 8-15 × 8-19 mm;
nectary scale glabrous.
globose or ovoid, 5-9 × 5-8 mm;
achenes 2-2.8 × 1.8-2.2 mm, glabrous, margin forming narrow rib 0.1-0.2 mm wide;
beak persistent, filiform, straight, 1.2-2.8 mm.
ovoid, 6-12 × 5-9 mm;
achenes 1.8-2.4 × 1-1.4 mm, glabrous or nearly so;
beak subulate, straight, 1.2-1.7 mm.
n = 16.
= 32.
Ranunculus fascicularis
Ranunculus adoneus
Ranunculus fascicularis is very similar to R. hispidus var. hispidus, and herbarium specimens without underground parts may be difficult to identify. Ranunculus fascicularis grows in drier habitats; segments of its leaves are commonly oblanceolate and blunt, with few or no marginal teeth; and its petals are widest at or below the middle. Ranunculus hispidus var. hispidus is usually larger in all its parts (leaves, flowers, heads of achenes); leaf segments are variable in shape but their apices are normally sharper and their marginal teeth more numerous, and petals are widest above the middle.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Most collections of Ranunculus adoneus from Colorado, including the type specimen, tend to be small, with narrow leaf segments (only 0.5-1 mm wide) and large flowers. The more widespread form, with leaf segments 1-2 mm wide and more variable flowers, has been called R. adoneus var. alpinus. The leaf and flower characteristics are very poorly correlated, however, and specimens referable to var. alpinus vary greatly in stature and flower size, so the two forms scarcely merit formal recognition.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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