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Spearwort (Ranunculus laxicaulis)

• Family: Buttercup (Ranunculaceae)
• Flowering: May-June.
• Field Marks: This is the only Ranunculus with all the leaves unlobed and with 5 petals about twice as long as the sepals.
• Habitat: Roadside ditches, wet prairies.
• Habit: Annual herb with fibrous roots.
• Stems: Erect or sprawling, smooth or slightly hairy, sometimes branched, up to 1 foot long.
• Leaves: Basal and on the stem, narrowly elliptic to ovate, with or without teeth, smooth or slightly hairy, none of them lobed, up to 3 inches long, up to 1 1/2 inches broad.
• Flowers: Solitary on slender stalks, with several flowers per stem, yellow.
• Sepals: 5, green, free from each other, about 1/6 inch long.
• Petals: 5, yellow, free from each other, up to 1/3 inch long.
• Stamens: 25-30.
• Pistils: Numerous, with a superior ovary.
• Fruits: Achenes oblongoid, yellowish, smooth, less than 1/20 inch long, without a beak.