Ranunculus glaberrimus |
Ranunculus ranunculinus |
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sagebrush buttercup, smooth buttercup |
tadpole 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. |
erect from short caudices, not rooting nodally, glabrous, not bulbous-based. |
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Leaves | basal leaf blades ovate to semicircular in outline, ternately or pinnately 2x-compound, 2.4-8.2 × 2-8.5 cm, leaflets parted and again lobed, ultimate segments elliptic to linear, margins entire (or occasionally a lobe reduced to tooth), apex acuminate to 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 spreading or reflexed from base, 3-6 × 1-3 mm, glabrous; petals (0-)5-6, yellow, 3-8 × 1-3 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. |
hemispheric to globose, 4-5 × 6-7 mm; achenes 2.2-3.6 × 1.2-1.8 mm, glabrous; beak filiform, strongly reflexed from base, 0.8-1.5 mm, brittle, often broken. |
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Tuberous | roots absent. |
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2n | = 32. |
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Ranunculus glaberrimus |
Ranunculus ranunculinus |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer (Apr–Aug). | |||||
Habitat | Open grassy or brushy slopes | |||||
Elevation | 1700-2600 m (5600-8500 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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CO; NM; UT; WY
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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.) |
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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. Cyrtorhyncha > sect. Cyrtorhyncha | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Cyrtorhyncha ranunculina | |||||
Name authority | Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 12. (1829) | (Nuttall) Rydberg: Bot. Surv. Nebraska 3: 23. (1894) | ||||
Web links |
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