Ranunculus glaberrimus |
Ranunculus hyperboreus |
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sagebrush buttercup, smooth buttercup |
arctic buttercup, far-northern buttercup, high northern buttercup, renoncule hyperboréale |
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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. |
prostrate, glabrous, rooting nodally. |
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Leaves | basal leaves absent, cauline leaf blades reniform to broadly flabellate, deeply 3-lobed or 3-parted, 0.3-1.2 × 0.5-2.1 cm, base obtuse to cordate, lobes undivided or lateral lobes cleft, terminal segment entire or distally crenulate, apex rounded. |
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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 glabrous; sepals 3-4, spreading or reflexed from base, 2-4 × 1-3 mm, glabrous; petals 3-4, 2-4 × 1-3 mm; nectary on petal surface, scale poorly developed and forming crescent-shaped ridge surrounding but not covering nectary; style 0.1-0.2 mm. |
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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. |
globose or short-ovoid, 3-5 × 2-5 mm; achenes 1-1.4 × 0.8-1.2 mm, glabrous; beak linear, curved, 0.1-0.4 mm. |
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2n | = 32. |
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Ranunculus glaberrimus |
Ranunculus hyperboreus |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer (Jun–Aug). | |||||
Habitat | Floating in shallow water or stranded on exposed mud at margins of streams and ponds and open wet soil and marshes, in tundra or boreal or subalpine forest | |||||
Elevation | 0-3400 m (0-11200 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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AK; CO; ID; MT; NV; UT; WY; AB; BC; MB; NF; NT; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; 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.) |
Specimens of Ranunculus hyperboreus from the central and southern Rocky Mountains have the leaves always cordate and the fruiting heads always 4-5 mm; they have been separated as R. hyperboreus subsp. intertextus. Although Arctic specimens are more variable, they often have shallowly cordate leaf bases and equally large heads of achenes, so segregation of the subspecies seems inappropriate. (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. Ranunculus > sect. Hecatonia | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | R. hyperboreus subsp. arnellii, R. hyperboreus subsp. intertextus, R. hyperboreus var. samojedorum, R. hyperboreus var. tricrenatus, R. hyperboreus var. turquetilianus, R. natans var. intertextus | |||||
Name authority | Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 12. (1829) | Rottbøll: Skr. Kiøbenhavnske Selsk. Laerd. Elsk. 10: 458. (1770) | ||||
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