Jepson Herbarium
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University of California, Berkeley
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Vascular Plants of California
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Ranunculus sceleratus var. sceleratus


Higher Taxonomy
Family: RanunculaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: BUTTERCUP FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, woody vine [shrub], occasionally aquatic. Leaf: generally basal and cauline, alternate or opposite, simple or compound; petioles at base generally flat, occasionally sheathing or stipule-like. Inflorescence: cyme, raceme, panicle, or flowers 1. Flower: generally bisexual, generally radial; sepals 3--6(20), free, early-deciduous or withering in fruit, generally green; petals 0--many, generally free; stamens generally 5--many, staminodes generally 0; pistils 1--many, ovary superior, chamber 1, style 0--1, generally +- persistent as beak, ovules 1--many. Fruit: achene, follicle, berry, +- utricle in Trautvetteria, in aggregate or not, 1--many-seeded.
Genera In Family: +- 60 genera, 1700 species: worldwide, especially northern temperate, tropical mountains; many ornamental (Adonis, Aquilegia, Clematis, Consolida, Delphinium, Helleborus, Nigella). Toxicity: some highly TOXIC (Aconitum, Actaea, Delphinium, Ranunculus). Note: Taxa of Isopyrum in TJM (1993) moved to Enemion; Kumlienia moved to Ranunculus.
eFlora Treatment Author: Margriet Wetherwax & Dieter H. Wilken, family description, key to genera
Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Genus: RanunculusView DescriptionDichotomous Key

Common Name: BUTTERCUP
Habit: Annual to perennial herb, occasionally from stolons or caudices, terrestrial or aquatic; roots generally fibrous. Stem: prostrate to erect. Leaf: basal, cauline, or both, alternate, generally reduced upward; petiole base flat, stipule-like or not; basal, proximal cauline petioles generally long; blades simple to dissected or compound, entire to toothed. Inflorescence: cyme, axillary or terminal, 1--few-flowered. Flower: sepals 3--5(6), generally early-deciduous, generally green to yellow or purple; petals 0--17[(150)], shiny, generally yellow, occasionally white or purple, nectaries near base, pocket-like or with flap-like scale; anthers yellow; pistils generally many. Fruit: achene, compressed or not, +- spheric, disk-like (width 3--15 × depth), or lenticular (width 1--2 × depth), beaked.
Etymology: (Latin: diminutive of Rana, frog, from wet habitats)
eFlora Treatment Author: Alan T. Whittemore
Species: Ranunculus sceleratusView Description 


Habit: Annual, emergent aquatic, occasionally on mud, 15--50 cm, erect, glabrous, generally not rooting at proximal nodes. Leaf: basal, proximal cauline 1--5 cm, 1.6--6.8 cm wide, reniform to semicircular, 3-lobed or -parted, segments generally again lobed or parted, occasionally undivided, base truncate to cordate, margin crenate, tip rounded or occasionally obtuse. Flower: receptacle hairy or glabrous; sepals 3--4, reflexed +- from base, 2--5 mm, 1--3 mm wide, early-deciduous; petals 3--5, 2--5 mm, 1--3 mm wide; style 0. Fruit: body 1--1.2 mm, 0.8--1 mm wide, lenticular, wall thick, smooth or +- wrinkled, margins thick, corky, beak 0.1 mm, generally straight, deltate.

Ranunculus sceleratus L. var. sceleratus
NATURALIZED
Leaf: lobed or parted, segments undivided or lobed, crenate. Fruit: faces finely transversely wrinkled.
Ecology: Ponds, riverbanks; Elevation: < 1800 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo, n SNF, GV, SnBr, PR; Distribution Outside California: to British Columbia, eastern United States; native to Europe. Flowering Time: Apr--Jun, Oct
Jepson eFlora Author: Alan T. Whittemore
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Ranunculus sceleratus var. multifidus
Next taxon: Ranunculus testiculatus

Botanical illustration including Ranunculus sceleratus var. sceleratusbotanical illustration including Ranunculus sceleratus var. sceleratus


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Citation for this treatment: Alan T. Whittemore 2012, Ranunculus sceleratus var. sceleratus, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=64987, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Ranunculus sceleratus  
var. sceleratus
click for image enlargement
©2015 Neal Kramer
Ranunculus sceleratus  
var. sceleratus
click for image enlargement
©2015 Neal Kramer

More photos of Ranunculus sceleratus var. sceleratus
in CalPhotos



Geographic subdivisions for Ranunculus sceleratus var. sceleratus:
NCo, n SNF, GV, SnBr, PR
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map of distribution 1

(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).






 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.

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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month Flowering-Fruiting Monthly Counts

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).