Ranunculus triternatus
Ranunculus canus
Dalles Mountain buttercup, obscure buttercup
Hartweg's buttercup, Sacramento Valley buttercup
cylindric, 2-3 mm thick.
never tuberous.
prostrate or ascending, 5-20 cm, glabrous, each with 1-6 flowers.
erect to decumbent, never rooting nodally, hirsute, pilose, or glabrous, base not bulbous.
persistent, blades rhombic to deltate or reniform in outline, 3-4x-dissected, 1.1-3.4 × 2-3.1 cm, segments linear, base obtuse, margins crenate, apices of segments narrowly rounded.
ovate to narrowly ovate in outline, 3-parted or -foliolate, 3.3-9.5 ×3.5-9.4 cm, leaflets or segments 1-3x-lobed, ultimate segments ovate or oblong-ovate to lanceolate, margins toothed, apex acute or obtuse.
pedicels glabrous;
receptacle short-pubescent;
sepals 4-8 × 2-5 mm, abaxially glabrous or nearly so;
petals 5, 6-15 × 4-10 mm;
nectary scale glabrous.
receptacle glabrous;
sepals reflexed 1-2 mm above base, 3-8 × 2-4 mm, hirsute;
petals 5-17, yellow, 6-12 × 3-6 mm.
depressed-globose, 4-6 × 5-8 mm;
achenes 1.8-2.2 × 1.2-1.8 mm, finely pubescent;
beak subulate, straight, 0.8-1.5 mm.
hemispheric to globose, 6-9 × 7-10 mm;
achenes 3.4-4.4 × 2.4-3.6 mm, glabrous or rarely hispid, margin forming narrow rib 0.1-0.2 mm wide;
beak persistent, deltate or lance-deltate, curved, 0.2-1.2 mm.
Ranunculus triternatus
Ranunculus canus
Of conservation concern.
C. L. Hitchcock et al. (1955-1969, vol. 2) considered the name Ranunculus triternatus A. Gray to be an illegitemate homonym and used the illegitimate (superfluous) name R. reconditus A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride for this species. The name Ranunculus triternatus Poiret was not validly published (not accepted by Poiret) and does not invalidate R. triternatus A. Gray.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Ranunculus canus intergrades with R. occidentalis var. occidentalis and R. californicus, and some populations can be difficult to assign to species. The deltate or lance-deltate achene beak of R. canus, however, which is usually 0.8-1.2 mm wide at the base and less than 1.5 times as long as wide, contrasts with the narrower beaks of the other two species, which are usually less than 0.6 mm wide and at least twice as long as wide.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petals 5–7; Sacramento Valley and adjacent foothills. | var. canus |
1. Petals 13–17; Transverse Ranges. | var. ludovicianus |
OR
WA
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
