Ranunculus sect. Epirotes
basal, sometimes tuberous.
erect, not bulbous-based, without bulbils.
basal and cauline, simple or compound;
basal leaves petiolate, blades variously divided, unlobed to deeply parted, compound, or filiform-dissected, segments undivided or again lobed or parted, margins entire or crenate, never serrate;
cauline leaves sessile to nearly sessile or sometimes with much shorter petioles than basal leaves, blades lobed to compound or dissected (rarely unlobed in R. macauleyi and R. glaberrimus).
1-50-flowered cymes.
pedicellate;
sepals deciduous soon after anthesis, 5;
petals yellow (rarely absent in R. pedatifidus);
nectary scale joined with petal on 3 sides, forming pocket enclosing nectary (sometimes with apex free, forming flap shorter than pocket), glabrous or setose, free margin entire or fringed;
style present.
achenes, 1-locular;
achene body thick-lenticular or asymmetrically thick-lenticular to compressed-globose, 1.2-2 times as wide as thick, not prolonged beyond seed;
wall thick, smooth;
margin low narrow ridge, often inconspicuous;
beak much shorter than achene body.
Ranunculus sect. Epirotes
Worldwide except lowland tropics
Species ca. 70 (22 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Abaxial surface of sepals with dense brown pubescence. | → 2 |
1. Abaxial surface of sepals glabrous or with colorless hairs. | → 4 |
2. Basal leaf blades narrowly elliptic to lanceolate or oblanceolate; s Rocky Mountains. | R. macauleyi |
2. Basal leaf blades orbiculate to reniform; Canadian Rocky Mountains and Arctic. | → 3 |
3. Receptacle brown-pilose; basal leaf blades usually shallowly lobed, or unlobed with crenate margins. | R. sulphureus |
3. Receptacle glabrous; basal leaf blades 3-parted. | R. nivalis |
4. Basal leaves deciduous before anthesis; nectary scale ciliate, petals 2–3 times as long as wide. | R. arizonicus var. arizonicus |
4. Basal leaves persistent; nectary scale glabrous, (glabrous or ± pilose in R. cardiophyllus and R. glaberrimus, which have petals 1–1.5 times as long as wide). | → 5 |
5. Some or all basal leaf blades unlobed. | → 6 |
5. All basal leaf blades lobed or parted. | → 14 |
6. Basal leaf margins entire or with 3 broad shallow rounded teeth; heads of achenes globose, 6–20mm wide. | R. glaberrimus |
6. Basal leaf margins either crenate to crenate-lobulate, with more than 5 rounded teeth, or innermost teeth lobed or divided; heads of achenes usually ovoid to cylindric (sometimes globose and 3–8 mm wide). | → 7 |
7. Petals 1–3.5 mm. | → 8 |
7. Petals 4–18 mm. | → 10 |
8. Stems villous, sometimes sparsely so; receptacle glabrous; base of some roots ± swollen and tuberous, usually 1–2 mm thick; leaf base usually obtuse or truncate. | R. micranthus |
8. Stems glabrous; receptacle pilose, sometimes sparsely so; base of roots never much swollen, 0.2–1.5 mm thick; leaf base ± cordate. | → 9 |
9. Sepals hispid; achene beak 0.6–1 mm. | R. allegheniensis |
9. Sepals glabrous; achene beak 0.1–0.2 mm. | R. abortivus |
10. Leaf blades wider than long; e of Great Plains, not in Great Lakes area. | → 11 |
10. Leaf blades at least as long as wide; Great Lakes area and Great Plains w to Great Basin. | → 12 |
11. Pedicels glabrous (see also R. escholtzii with lobed leaves); se United States. | R. harveyi var. harveyi |
11. Pedicels pubescent, sometimes sparsely so; e Canada. | R. allenii |
12. Sepals 5–8 × 3–7 mm; nectary scale ciliate, sometimes glabrous; leaf base cordate to broadly obtuse. | R. cardiophyllus |
12. Sepals 3–6× 1.5–3mm; nectary scale glabrous; leaf base obtuse or acute to rounded. | → 13 |
13. Basal leaf blades ovate, obovate, or orbiculate; heads of achenes cylindric, 7–17 mm; achene beak 0.4–2 mm; Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, and Black Hills. | R. inamoenus |
13. Basal leaf blades ovate to rhombic; heads of achenes depressed-globose, 4–6 mm; achene beak 0.2– 0.3 mm; n Great Plains and eastward. | R. rhomboideus |
14. Basal leaf blades dissected into linear segments. | → 15 |
14. Basal leaves at most 1×-divided, segments not linear. | → 16 |
15. Roots slender, 0.8–1.4 mm thick; achene beak 1.2–1.7 mm. | R. adoneus |
15. Roots 2–3 mm thick; achene beak 0.8–1.5 mm. | R. triternatus |
16. Some roots clavate and tuberous, 2.5–5 mm thick; basal leaf blades deeply divided into 3 oblanceolate segments. | R. jovis |
16. Roots not clavate or tuberous, 0.1–1.6 mm thick; leaves various but not as above. | → 17 |
17. Petals 7–15 mm. | → 18 |
17. Petals 1–8 mm. | → 20 |
18. Pedicels glabrous. | R. eschscholtzii |
18. Pedicels pubescent. | → 19 |
19. Heads of achenes globose to short-ovoid; basal leaves 3-parted with segments again lobed or parted, margins toothed; Greenland. | R. auricomus |
19. Heads of achenes cylindric; basal leaves pedately (5–)7(–9)-parted or -divided, segments sometimes again lobed, margins never toothed; throughout n North America. | R. pedatifidus var. affinis |
20. Flowering stems 0.6–3.5 cm (sometimes longer in fruit); petals 1–3.5 mm. | R. pygmaeus |
20. Flowering stems (1–)4–15(–27) cm; petals 3–8 mm. | → 21 |
21. Petals 6–16 mm; beak of achene straight, 0.6–1.8 mm; pedicels glabrous. | R. eschscholtzii |
21. Petals 4–8 mm; beak of achene straight or curved, 0.3–0.7 mm; pedicels glabrous or pilose. | → 22 |
22. Base of basal leaves obtuse; petals 5–8 mm; arctic Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. | R. sabinei |
22. Base of basal leaves nearly cordate to truncate; petals 4–5 mm; Alaska, Yukon, and Rocky Mountains. | R. gelidus |
