Ranunculus fascicularis
Ranunculus pensylvanicus
early buttercup, early crowfoot, prairie buttercup, tuft buttercup
bristly buttercup, bristly crowfoot, Pennsylvania buttercup, renoncule de pennsylvanie
always both filiform and tuberous on same stem.
never tuberous.
erect or ascending, never rooting nodally, strigose or spreading-strigose, base not bulbous.
erect, never rooting nodally, hispid, base not bulbous.
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.
blades broadly cordate in outline, 3-foliolate, 1.6-7 × 3-9 cm, leaflets cleft, usually deeply so, ultimate segments narrowly elliptic, margins toothed, apex 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.
receptacle hirsute;
sepals reflexed ca. 1 mm above base, 3-5 × 1.5-2 mm, ± hispid;
petals 5, yellow, 2-4 × 1-2.5 mm.
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.
cylindric, 9-12 × 5-7 mm;
achenes 1.8-2.8 × 1.6-2 mm, glabrous, margin forming narrow rib 0.1-0.2 mm wide;
beak persistent, broadly lanceolate or nearly deltate, straight or nearly so, 0.6-0.8 mm.
= 32.
= 16.
Ranunculus fascicularis
Ranunculus pensylvanicus
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.)
Ojibwa tribes used Ranunculus pensylvanicus as a hunting medicine; the Potawatomi used it as an astringent for miscellaneous diseases (D. E. Moerman 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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