Ranunculus rhomboideus |
Ranunculus flammula |
|||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labrador buttercup, prairie buttercup, prairie crowfoot |
creeping buttercup, creeping crowfoot, creeping spearwort, greater creeping spearwort, lesser spearwort, lesser water buttercup, spearwort |
|||||||||
Roots | slender, 0.8-1.8 mm thick. |
not thickened basally, glabrous. |
||||||||
Stems | erect, 5-22 cm, pilose or occasionally glabrous, each with 3-12 flowers. |
erect to prostrate, usually rooting nodally, glabrous or sparsely strigose. |
||||||||
Basal leaves | persistent, blades ovate to rhombic, undivided or rarely innermost 3-parted, 1.1-5.3 × 0.9-3.6 cm, base obtuse, margins crenate with 5 crenae, apex rounded. |
|||||||||
Proximal cauline leaf blades | lanceolate to oblanceolate or filiform, 0.7-6.5 × 0.04-1 cm, base acute to filiform, margins entire or serrulate, apex acute to filiform. |
|||||||||
Inflorescences | bracts lanceolate to oblanceolate. |
|||||||||
Flowers | pedicels pilose; receptacle pilose; sepals 4-6 × 1.5-3 mm, abaxially pilose, hairs colorless; petals 5, 6-8 × 2-4 mm; nectary scale glabrous. |
receptacle glabrous; sepals 5, spreading or weakly reflexed, 1.5-4 × 1-2 mm, glabrous or appressed-hispid; petals 5-6, 2.5-7 × 1-4 mm; nectary scales glabrous. |
||||||||
Heads of achenes | depressed-globose, 4-6 × 5-7 mm; achenes 1.8-2.2 × 1.2-1.8 mm, glabrous; beak slender, curved, 0.2-0.3 mm. |
globose or hemispheric, 2-4 × 3-4 mm; achenes 1.2-1.6 × 1-1.4 mm, glabrous; beak lanceolate to linear, straight or curved, 0.1-0.6 mm. |
||||||||
2n | = 16. |
|||||||||
Ranunculus rhomboideus |
Ranunculus flammula |
|||||||||
Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr–Jun). | |||||||||
Habitat | Prairies, or occasionally open woods or thickets | |||||||||
Elevation | 0-900 m (0-3000 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
IA; IL; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; SD; WI; AB; BC; MB; NT; ON; SK
|
AK; AZ; CA; CO; CT; ID; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; ND; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OR; PA; UT; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Eurasia
|
||||||||
Discussion | In addition to the range given above, L. D. Benson (1948) cited nineteenth-century specimens from Quebec, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. No modern specimens have been seen from those areas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). In Eurasia, this taxon is usually treated as two closely related species. Ranunculus flammula in the strict sense has relatively stout (0.8-3 mm thick) stems that are erect or ascending from prostrate bases, lanceolate to oblanceolate leaves 3-10 mm broad, sepals 3-4 mm, and petals 5-7 × 3-4 mm. Ranunculus reptans has slender (0.2-1 mm thick) stems that are usually prostrate except for the pedicels, leaves linear or filiform, to 2 mm broad, sepals 1-2 mm, and petals 3-5 × 1-2.5 mm. In North America, this distinction holds up relatively well east of the Great Plains, where plants with the characteristics of R. flammula in the strict sense are found in eastern Canada (Newfoundland and northern Nova Scotia) while plants with the characteristics of R. reptans are widespread. In the western part of the continent, however, the situation is much less clear. Collections from the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains resemble R. reptans in most characters, but they often have broader leaves (up to 5 mm broad). Plants from farther west are very confusing; specimens showing the typical morphology of R. flammula in the strict sense and R. reptans are found over a wide area, but most specimens from this area combine the characteristics of the two taxa in various ways. For this reason, it is not possible to separate these taxa at the species level. Three varieties are usually recognized, but further study will probably alter the varietal classification (see comments below, under R. flammula var. ovalis). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Epirotes | Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus > subg. Ranunculus > sect. Flammula | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Name authority | Goldie: Edinburgh J. Sci. 6: 329. (1822) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 548. (1753) | ||||||||
Web links |
|