Ranunculus glaberrimus |
Ranunculus aquatilis |
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sagebrush buttercup, smooth buttercup |
renoncule aquatique, water buttercup, water crowfoot, white water butter cup, white water crowfoot, white water crowsfoot, white western buttercup |
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Roots | cylindric, 1-3 mm thick. |
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Stems | prostrate or ascending, 4-15 cm, glabrous, each with 1-4 flowers. |
glabrous. |
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Leaves | laminate and filiform-dissected; laminate leaf blades reniform, 3-parted, 0.4-1.1 × 0.7-2.3 cm, segments obovate or fan-shaped, shallowly cleft, margins crenate; filiform-dissected leaves with stipules gradually tapering upward, connate for their whole length. |
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Basal leaves | persistent, blades reniform or obovate to very narrowly elliptic, 0.7-5.2 × 1-2 cm, base truncate, obtuse or attenuate, margins entire or with 3 broad, apical crenae, apex rounded to acute. |
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Flowers | pedicels glabrous or nearly so; receptacle glabrous; sepals 5-8 × 3-7 mm, abaxially glabrous or sparsely pilose, hairs colorless; petals 5-10, 8-13 × 5-12 mm; nectary scale glabrous or ciliate. |
receptacle hispid, rarely glabrous; sepals spreading or reflexed, 2-4 × 1-2 mm, glabrous; petals 5, 4-7 × 1-5 mm; style 0.1-0.8 mm. |
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Fruiting pedicels | usually recurved. |
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Heads of achenes | globose, 7-12(-20) × 6-11(-20) mm; achenes 1.4-2.2 × 1.1-1.8 mm, usually finely pubescent; beak subulate or lance-subulate, straight or curved, 0.4-1 mm. |
hemispheric to ovoid, 2-4 × 2-5 mm; achenes 1-2 × 0.8-1.4 mm, glabrous or hispid; beak persistent, filiform, 0.1-1.2 mm. |
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Ranunculus glaberrimus |
Ranunculus aquatilis |
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Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Eurasia
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Usually only a minority of the ovaries develop, and the fruiting receptacle is completely hidden by aborted ovaries. Populations growing at high elevations (Ranunculus glaberrimus var. ellipticus) and low elevations (var. glaberrimus) are usually well differentiated, but these varieties intergrade at intermediate elevations. The Thompson Indians rubbed the flowers or the whole plant of Ranunculus glaberrimus on arrow points as a poison (D. E. Moerman 1986). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Ranunculus aquatilis is very variable. In the past it has often been treated as three or four species and many varieties. These segregate taxa have been based on the size, petiolation and rigidity of the leaves (now known to be primarily under environmental control), petal size and curvature of the fruiting pedicel (both sometimes variable along single stem), and number of achenes per head and length of achene beak (which vary continuously and are not correlated with one another). Unless reliable characters can be found, only two of the taxa recognized in older floras can be maintained. (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. Epirotes | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Batrachium | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Batrachium aquatile | |||||||||
Name authority | Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 12. (1829) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 556. (1753) | ||||||||
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