Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
9. Ranunculaceae, the Buttercup Family
4. Ranunculus L. -- Buttercup, crowfoot8. Ranunculus macounii Britt. -- Macoun's buttercup
Sparsely to densely hirsute annual or shortlived perennial 2-7 dm tall. Stems hollow, erect or decumbent, dichotomously branched 1-few times, the branches rebranching and terminating in few to several flowers. Leaves basal and cauline, the basal leaves usually larger and longer-petioled than the cauline ones; blades deltoid in outline, simple and 3-lobed or more often compound and divided into 3 segments which themselves may be 3-lobed, 4-14 cm long, 6-16 cm wide, glabrous to hirsute on both surfaces, the ultimate segments coarsely and irregularly toothed; stipular bases 5-25 mm long, mostly 2-3 cm long on basal leaves. Sepals 5, yellowish, reflexed, 3-5(7) mm long, deciduous, glabrous or pilose; petals 5, yellow, equaling or longer than the sepals, 3-6(8) mm long; stamens 15-35, anthers less than 1 mm long; receptacle 1-2 mm long in flower, 4-6 mm long in fruit. Achenes 30-50 in an ovoid to globose head 7-12 mm long, 8-12 mm thick; achene body flattened, obovate, 2-3(3.5) mm long, smooth or shallowly pitted, glabrous, narrowly keeled on the margin; beak stout, slightly curved or straight, 1 mm long. Jun--Jul. Wet meadows, shores, stream banks, ditches and other wet places; common in the n and w parts, less so in the c and e; (Labr. to AK, s to Que., n MI, IA, NE, NM, AZ and CA).
 Ranunculus macounii. Photo by James Johnson. |
|
Previous Species -- Ranunculus longirostris Godr. -- White water-crowfoot
Return to Family -- Ranunculaceae - The Buttercup Family
Next Species -- Ranunculus pensylvanicus L. f. -- Bristly crowfoot
