Plant Species: Ranunculus uncinatus, woods buttercup
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae -- buttercup
Genus: Ranunculus
Species: uncinatus
Variety: some authors recognize var. parviflorus, but others do
not consider it a distinct taxon.
Common Name: woods or woodland buttercup, little buttercup.
Species Code: RAUN
Origin: Native to moist to wet places, frequently in shady woods or shrub thickets but occasionally in wet, open meadows of western North America from Alaska to California and east to Montana and northern New Mexico.
Rare: no
Form: forb, biennial or perennial from coarse, fibrous roots; subglabrous to hirsute throughout; stems 15-60 cm tall, usually single, erect, simple to sparingly branched, fistulose.
Mature height: 6-24 inches
Duration: biennial, perennial
Longevity: short-lived
Habitat Type: forest, shrub thickets
Wetland Indicator Status: FAC-
Leaves: basal with petioles to 20 cm long; blades cordate to reniform, 2-8 cm long, deeply 3-lobed, the lobes again divided, ultimate segments elliptic to lanceolate, margins toothed or scalloped (crenate); cauline leaves few, alternate, reduced to bracts above.
Flowers: few, borne in terminal and axillary cymes; receptacle glabrous; sepals 5, spreading to reflexed, 1.5-3.5 mm long, pubescent, quickly deciduous; petals 5, yellow, 2-4 mm long; stamens 10-20; pistils 10-30.
Flower color: yellow
Bloom: flowering in May and June on the Palouse but extending into July and August at higher elevations
Bloom starts on:
Bloom ends on:
Fruit: achene, usually 10-30 borne in a globose cluster; flattened, obovate, about 2-2.5 mm long, glabrous or hispidulous, margin prominent and keeled; beak persistent, lanceolate, 1-2 mm long, recurved and hooked.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Two varieties are sometimes recognized, var uncinatus and var. parviflorus, but
they are often sympatric and intergrading (Hitchcock et al 1969) and there is disagreement as to whether or not the
differences are worthy of varietal status.
R. bongardi in Piper & Beattie 1914.
Reproduces sexually by seed.
2n=28 (Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993).
Flowers are perfect.
Poisonous to livestock and humans. May cause dermatitis.
Used medicinally by some native peoples (Moerman 2003).
Fruit is an achene.
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 and further work is needed in the North American species (Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993).
Polyploidy is known in the genus and it probably further complicates the taxonomy.
Comments:
Sun requirement: shade tolerant
Soil moisture: mesic to wet
Precipitation:
Fire:
Hazards: Poisonous to livestock and humans. May cause dermatitis.
Sowing time: fall
Transplant time: spring
Stratification: cold moist stratification appears to increase germination rates
Seed yield: medium
Seed harvest: medium difficulty
Seed first harvest: second season
Seed cleaning: medium difficulty
Planting duration: short
Seed insect problem: none noted
Seed shatter: low
Seed size: medium
Seed harvest date:
Seed comments: ripens indeterminately
Keywords: native biennial perennial upland forb
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species: bongardi
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
Appears to benefit from stratification but sufficient data is not available at present.
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Notes:
References:
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.
Moerman, Dan. 2003. Native American Ethnobotany: a Database of Foods, Drugs, Dyes and Fibers of Native American Peoples, Derived from Plants. University of Michigan-Dearborn. Online at http://herb.umd.umich.edu/ Accessed 1/3/07.
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.