Ranunculus trilobus |
Ranunculus macauleyi |
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threelobe buttercup |
Rocky Mountain buttercup |
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Roots | slender, 0.7-1.3 mm thick. |
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Stems | erect or reclining, hispid or sometimes glabrous. |
erect from short caudices, 6-15 cm, glabrous or sometimes pilose, each with 1-2 flowers. |
Basal leaves | persistent, blades narrowly elliptic to lanceolate or oblanceolate, undivided, 1.5-4.5 × 0.5-1.1(-2.8) cm, base acute or long-attenuate, margins entire except for apex, apex truncate or rounded and 3(-5)-toothed. |
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Flowers | pedicellate; receptacle hispid; sepals 5, reflexed, 3-4 × 2 mm, sparsely hispid; petals 5, 4-5 × 2-3 mm. |
pedicels glabrous or brown-pilose; receptacle glabrous; sepals 6-12 × 2.5-8 mm, abaxially densely brown-pilose; petals 5(-8), 10-19 × 6-17 mm; nectary scale glabrous. |
Heads of achenes | ovoid, 8-9 × 6-7 mm; achenes 30-60 per head, 2 × 2 mm, faces densely tuberculate, glabrous, margin smooth; beak semicircular, hooked, 0.3 mm. |
ovoid or cylindric, 5-10 × 4-5.5 mm; achenes 1.5-1.7 × 1.2-1.3 mm, glabrous; beak slender, straight or recurved, 0.5-1.5(-2.2) mm. |
Basal | and lower cauline leaf blades cordate-ovate, 3-foliolate, 5-8 × 3-6(-7) cm, leaflets again cleft or parted, leaflet base obtuse to acute, margins dentate, apex rounded to acute. |
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Ranunculus trilobus |
Ranunculus macauleyi |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr). | Flowering late spring–summer (Jun–Aug). |
Habitat | Fields and roadsides | Sunny open soil of alpine meadows and slopes |
Elevation | 0-100 m (0-300 ft) | 3300-3700 m (10800-12100 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; LA; SC; TX; native to Europe [Introduced in North America] |
CO; NM
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Discussion | The type specimen of Ranunculus macauleyi var. brandegeei L. D. Benson, from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado, differs from typical R. macauleyi in its tall stem, broad, crenate-laciniate leaves, and sepals with pale or transparent hairs. These characteristics are suggestive of R. inamoenus, and the plant may be of hybrid ancestry. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Desfontaines: Fl. Atlant. 1: 437. (1799) | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 15: 45. (1879) |
Web links |