Ranunculus glaberrimus
Ranunculus auricomus
sagebrush buttercup, smooth buttercup
Greenland buttercup
cylindric, 1-3 mm thick.
filiform, 0.2-0.6 mm thick.
prostrate or ascending, 4-15 cm, glabrous, each with 1-4 flowers.
erect or ascending, 12-30 cm, glabrous, each with 1-4 flowers.
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.
persistent, blades reniform, 3-parted, 1.2-2.8 × 1.6-4.6 cm, segments again lobed or parted, base cordate, margins toothed, apices of segments rounded in outline.
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.
pedicels appressed-pubescent;
receptacle finely canescent;
sepals 4-7 × 2.5-4 mm, abaxially sparsely pilose, hairs colorless;
petals 5, 6-10(-15) × 5-9 mm;
nectary scale glabrous.
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.
globose to short-ovoid, 5-8 × 5-6 mm;
achenes 2-2.2 × 1.8-2 mm, glabrous or sparsely and finely canescent distally;
beak lanceolate, weakly to strongly curved, 1.2-2 mm.
= 16.
Ranunculus glaberrimus
Ranunculus auricomus
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.)
Ranunculus auricomus is predominantly apomictic, with irregular meiosis. Different European races may show a variety of characteristics not found in Greenland material (pilose stems, undivided, crenate-dentate leaves, densely canescent achenes, and glabrous receptacles). T. W. Böcher et al. (1968) recognized three distinct races from Greenland, distinguished by minor differences in stature and branching of the plants, width of cauline leaf segments, and indument of achenes. Those races, which were evidently based on very few collections, were named as subspecies by L. Fagerström and G. Kvist (1983). More ample material collected during the 1980s does not support the Fagerström and Kvist classification. Except for stature and branching, which both depend on the general vigor of the plants, these characteristics are poorly correlated with one another and with geographic place of collection. Cauline leaf segments sometimes vary in width within a single collection, and achenes of the Ymer Island collection that they referred to R. auricomus subsp. glabratus are sparsely canescent, not glabrous as stated. These observations, together with the uniformity of indument, leaf shape, and receptacle and achene morphology in the Greenland populations, suggest that they are best considered a single race within the variable apomictic complex comprising R. auricomus in the broad sense.
T. G. Tutin and J. R. Akeroyd (1993) treated Ranunculus auricomus var. glabratus as a synonym of R. affinis (= R. pedatifidus var. affinis; see above). The characteristics in that key and description (leaves palmately 3-5-lobed, achenes in globose heads) do not match American material of R. pedatifidus var. affinis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Basal leaf blades ovate to obovate, usually shallowly lobed; bracts 3-lobed, lobes equal in size; 400–2000 m. | var. glaberrimus |
1. Basal leaf blades elliptic to oblanceolate, usually undivided; bracts 3-lobed, middle lobe much larger; 1200–3600 m. | var. ellipticus |
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
