Ranunculus uncinatus
Ranunculus auricomus
hook fruit buttercup, little buttercup, woodland buttercup
Greenland buttercup
never tuberous.
filiform, 0.2-0.6 mm thick.
erect, never rooting nodally, hispid or glabrous, base not bulbous.
erect or ascending, 12-30 cm, glabrous, each with 1-4 flowers.
persistent, blades reniform, 3-parted, 1.2-2.8 × 1.6-4.6 cm, segments again lobed or parted, base cordate, margins toothed, apices of segments rounded in outline.
cordate to reniform in outline, 3-parted or sometimes 3-foliolate, 1.8-5.6 × 2.8-8.3 cm, segments again lobed, ultimate segments elliptic to lanceolate, margins toothed or crenate-toothed, apex acute to rounded-obtuse.
receptacle glabrous;
sepals reflexed or sometimes spreading, 2-3.5 × 1-2 mm, pubescent;
petals 5, yellow, 2-4(-6) × 1-2(-3) mm.
pedicels appressed-pubescent;
receptacle finely canescent;
sepals 4-7 × 2.5-4 mm, abaxially sparsely pilose, hairs colorless;
petals 5, 6-10(-15) × 5-9 mm;
nectary scale glabrous.
globose or hemispheric, 4-7 × 4-7 mm;
achenes 2-2.8 × 1.6-2 mm, glabrous or sparsely hispid, margin forming narrow rib 0.1-0.2 mm wide;
beak persistent, lanceolate, curved, hooked, 1.2-2.5 mm.
globose to short-ovoid, 5-8 × 5-6 mm;
achenes 2-2.2 × 1.8-2 mm, glabrous or sparsely and finely canescent distally;
beak lanceolate, weakly to strongly curved, 1.2-2 mm.
= 28.
= 16.
Ranunculus uncinatus
Ranunculus auricomus
Plants with hispid stems and achenes are often separated as Ranunculus uncinatus var. parviflorus; these two characters are poorly correlated, however, and sometimes vary between plants in a single collection. Ranunculus uncinatus was reported from northeastern Alberta and adjacent Northwest Territories by H. J. Scoggan (1978-1979, part 3). The specimens have hairy receptacles and straight, broad achene beaks; they apparently represent small individuals of R. macounii.
Some Native Americans used Ranunculus uncinatus as an antrirheumatic, a diaphoretic, a disinfectant, and an orthopedic aid, as well as in herbal steam baths intended to soothe sore muscles and rheumatism (D. E. Moerman 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Ranunculus auricomus is predominantly apomictic, with irregular meiosis. Different European races may show a variety of characteristics not found in Greenland material (pilose stems, undivided, crenate-dentate leaves, densely canescent achenes, and glabrous receptacles). T. W. Böcher et al. (1968) recognized three distinct races from Greenland, distinguished by minor differences in stature and branching of the plants, width of cauline leaf segments, and indument of achenes. Those races, which were evidently based on very few collections, were named as subspecies by L. Fagerström and G. Kvist (1983). More ample material collected during the 1980s does not support the Fagerström and Kvist classification. Except for stature and branching, which both depend on the general vigor of the plants, these characteristics are poorly correlated with one another and with geographic place of collection. Cauline leaf segments sometimes vary in width within a single collection, and achenes of the Ymer Island collection that they referred to R. auricomus subsp. glabratus are sparsely canescent, not glabrous as stated. These observations, together with the uniformity of indument, leaf shape, and receptacle and achene morphology in the Greenland populations, suggest that they are best considered a single race within the variable apomictic complex comprising R. auricomus in the broad sense.
T. G. Tutin and J. R. Akeroyd (1993) treated Ranunculus auricomus var. glabratus as a synonym of R. affinis (= R. pedatifidus var. affinis; see above). The characteristics in that key and description (leaves palmately 3-5-lobed, achenes in globose heads) do not match American material of R. pedatifidus var. affinis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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