Ranunculus orthorhynchus |
Ranunculus pusillus |
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Bloomer's buttercup, straight-beak buttercup, swamp buttercup |
low buttercup, low spearwort, weak buttercup |
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Roots | sometimes fleshy and ± tuberous. |
not thickened basally, glabrous. |
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Stems | nearly erect or decumbent, never rooting nodally, hispid, strigose, or glabrous, base not bulbous. |
erect or ascending, rooting at most proximal nodes, glabrous. |
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Basal leaf | blades narrowly ovate to oblong or semicircular in outline, simple to 3-5-lobed or -foliolate, 2.8-12.5 × 2.5-14 cm, leaflets or segments undivided or 1-2x-lobed or -parted, ultimate segments circular to linear, margins dentate, crenate, or entire, apex rounded to narrowly acute. |
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Proximal cauline leaf blades | ovate or lanceolate, 1.2-4.2 × 0.5-1.2 cm, base acute to truncate, margins entire or denticulate, apex acuminate to rounded. |
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Inflorescences | bracts linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate. |
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Flowers | receptacle hispid; sepals reflexed 1-2 mm above base, 5-11 × 2-4 mm, hispid, hirsute, or glabrous; petals 5-6, abaxially yellow or red, adaxially yellow, 8-18 × 4-11 mm. |
receptacle glabrous; sepals 4-5, spreading or reflexed from base, 1.5-3 × 1-1.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely hirsute; petals 1-3, 1.5-2 × 0.5-1 mm; nectary scales glabrous. |
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Heads of achenes | hemispheric to ovoid, 5-13 × 6-10 mm; achenes 2.8-4.5 × 1.8-3.2 mm, glabrous, margin forming narrow rib 0.1-0.2 mm wide; beak persistent, narrowly lanceolate to subulate, straight, 1.8-3.8(-4.8) mm. |
hemispheric to cylindric, 2-8 × 2-3 mm; achenes 1-1.2 × 0.6-0.8 mm, ± tuberculate, glabrous; beak absent or nearly so, to 0.1 mm. |
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Ranunculus orthorhynchus |
Ranunculus pusillus |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr–Jun). | |||||||||
Habitat | Ditches, ponds, and swamps | |||||||||
Elevation | 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC
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AL; AR; CA; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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Discussion | Varieties 3 The first two varieties (Ranunculus orthorhynchus var. orthorhynchus and R. orthorhynchus var. platyphyllus) are rather weak, intergrading extensively in California and Oregon. By contrast, R. orthorhynchus var. bloomeri often grows with the others with little or no intergradation (although intermediate populations are found in some areas), and it has been treated as a distinct species, R. bloomeri, by many taxonomists. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
In most specimens of Ranunculus pusillus, the heads of achenes are hemispheric to short-ovate and only 2-3 mm. Occasional plants with cylindric heads of achenes 4-6 mm from the Gulf Coast states have been called R. pusillus var. angustifolius. (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. Ranunculus | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Flammula | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | R. oblongifolius, R. pusillus var. angustifolius, R. tener | |||||||||
Name authority | Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 21. (1829) | Poiret: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 6: 99. (1804) | ||||||||
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