Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Order: Ranunculales

Family: Ranunculaceae -- buttercup

Infraspecific taxa: see "Comments" below

Common Name: straightbeak buttercup

Species Code: RAOR3

Origin: Native to moist to wet meadows and streambanks of western North America from Alaska to California and east to Montana, Wyoming and Utah.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial from thickened and tapered roots; stems several, branched, decumbent to erect, somewhat fistulose, 20-60 cm tall, generally hispid or strigose but sometimes glabrous.

Mature height: 5-24 inches

Duration: perennial

Habitat Type: wetland

Wetland Indicator Status: FACW-

Leaves: mostly basal, the petiole up to 25 cm long, thick; blade 3-8 cm long, 2-5 lobed, the central leaflet again pinnately compound, the ultimate segments rotund to linear, margins dentate, crenate, or entire; cauline leaves alternate, short petiolate, ultimate segments linear; reduced upward.

Flowers: perfect; borne in a terminal cyme; sepals 5, usually reflexed, 5-11 mm long, pilose to glabrous, often purplish, early deciduous; petals 5 or 6, yellow (sometimes red on the back), obovate, 9-18 mm long and 4-7 mm wide; receptacle spherical, hispid.

Flower color: yellow

Bloom: May, June, July

Fruit: achene, elliptic-obovate, 2-4 mm long, compressed, glabrous, beak straight or slightly recurved, 2.5-4.5 mm long; achenes numerous in a globose to ovoid cluster.

Characteristics:
Two varieties are commonly recognized, var. orthorhynchus and var. bloomeri. The latter does not occur north of south central Oregon. A third variety, var. platyphyllus, is sometimes recognized but the distinction is weak. It intergrades with var. orthorhynchus and is placed as a synonym thereof by some authors.
R. orthorhynchus var. platyphyllus in Hitchcock et al (1969), in St. John (1963), and in Davis (1953). R. platyphyllus in Piper & Beattie (1914).
It is likely that at least some of the species of Ranunculus hybridize. Apomixis may further complicate the taxonomy. Both processes are known in some of the Old World species (Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993+).
Perennating organ is the thick, fleshy roots.
Fruit is an achene.
Flowers are perfect.
Poisonous to livestock and humans. May cause dermatitis.
2n=16 (Baldwin et al 2004).
Waterfowl feed on the achenes (Mohlenbrock undated).

Comments: wet meadow taxon collected before 1917 in the Palouse.

Sun requirement: full sun to partial shade

Soil moisture: wet

Fire: wetland habitat probably resists fire while the plant is actively growing.

Hazards: Poisonous to livestock and humans. May cause dermatitis.

Sowing time: no information available

Transplant time: spring?

Stratification: no information

Seed yield: no information

Seed harvest: difficult

Seed first harvest: no information

Seed cleaning: no information

Planting duration: no information

Seed insect problem: no information

Seed shatter: no information

Seed size: medium

Seed harvest date: no information

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Keywords: native perennial wetland forb

Propagation:
No information is available.
Reproduces sexually by seed.

Notes: Likely could be used in a wet spot in the landscape.

References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 3/4/10 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html

Davis, Ray J. 1952. Flora of Idaho. Wm. C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. 827 pp.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 7+ vols. New York and Oxford. Oxford University Press. Online at http://www.fna.org/FNA/

Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.

Mohlenbrock, Robert H. undated. Western Wetland Flora: A Field Office Guide to Wetland Species. USDA, NRCS Western Region. Sacramento, CA.

Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Press of the New Era Printing Company, Lancaster, PA. 296 pp.

St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.

Links: Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species description from Flora of North America
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium