Ranunculus acris. Meadow buttercup. This plant can be weedy or invasive according to the authoritative sources noted below.This plant may be known by one or more common names in different places, and some are listed above. Meadow buttercup is a widespread and common perennial in meadows and pastures, and is also found in parks, gardens and at woodland edges. It prefers slightly damper, calcareous sites, where it can grow so dense that it forms yellow meadows that dazzle in the sunshine. It flowers between April and October.

1. Meadow Buttercup Flower
2. Meadow Buttercup Leaf

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Meadow Buttercup

Ranunculus acris -group

Meadow Buttercup Flower

• Name also: Tall Buttercup
• Species: Ranunculus acris and Ranunculus subborealis
• Family: Buttercup Family – Ranunculaceae
• Growing form: Perennial herb. Rootstock short, quite erect.
• Height: 5–100 cm (2–40 in.). Stem erect, many-branched, hairy.
• Flower: Corolla regular (actinomorphic), golden-yellow, 12–25 mm (0.48–1 in.) wide; petals 5, longer than sepals. Sepals 5, parallel to corolla, hairy. Receptacle glabrous. Stamens many. Gynoecium separate, with many pistils. Inflorescence lax, cyme-like, 1–20-flowered, flower-stalks shiny.
• Leaves: Alternate, basal leaves long–short-stalked, stem leaves almost stalkless. Basal leaf blades roundish, 3–5(–9)-lobed, lobes varyingly twice-lobed–toothed, sharp-tipped. Stem leaf blades 3-lobed, lobes entire–irregularly large-toothed.
• Fruit: Glabrous, 2–3.5 mm long achene, tip with 0.2–0.8 mm (0.008–0.032 in.) long, curved bristle. Achenes in clusters.
• Habitat: Meadows, roadsides, banks, yards, young forests, broad-leaved forests, swamps, river banks, lake shores, fell meadows.
• Flowering time: June–September.

Meadow buttercup is a classic example in school text books and for that reason many people have been familiar with it since they were children. It is however a very diverse species which has developed different subspecies in different habitats. Its southern subspecies ssp. acris is very like the meadow buttercup that is familiar from nature trails. Its original habitats in Finland are the upper parts of sea shores and loamy riverside meadows. It is a stock herb on pasture land as cattle usually leave the poisonous plant alone. It is also unhealthy for humans. Ssp. friesianus can be found in parks and places with brisk traffic. There is also a cultivated garden plant, such as a form with a compound corolla which is sold in garden centres.

Ranunculus subborealis

In the northernmost corners of the country there can be found a species belonging to Meadow buttercup-group. It has three subspecies: Ssp. borealis grows all the way north to riverside meadows and banks in Lapland and Kuusamo and looks slightly odd to the southern Finnish eye with its blunt leaflets and scant inflorescence. The same is true of densely brown-haired ssp. villosus. Low-growing, sturdy and usually one-flowered ssp. pumilus grows on Lappish fells does not really look much like its large and abundantly branched southern cousin.

→ Distribution map (Kasviatlas, University of Helsinki)

A whole bunch of other buttercups that are often mistakenly taken for meadow buttercup can also be found in yards. Creeping buttercup (R. repens) is usually easy to recognise from its low height and stalked terminal leaflets. Handsomely flowering multiflowered buttecup (R. polyathemos) has leaves that are more lobed than meadow buttercup’s. Additionally, both species’ flower-stalks are grooved while meadow buttercup’s are glossy. When comparing to members of the apomictic goldilocks group (R. auricomus), good identifying markers are on the stem leaves: meadow buttercup’s are three-lobed, goldilocks’ leaves are 5–9-lobed.

Other species from the same genus

Bulbous Buttercup, Celery-leaved Crowfoot, Common Water Crowfoot, Creeping Buttercup, Creeping Spearwort, Glacier Buttercup, Goldilocks, Great Spearwort, Kashubian Buttercups, Lesser Spearwort, Multiflowered Buttercup, Pond Water Crowfoot, Pygmy Buttercup, Ranunculus fallax, Snow Buttercup,

Other species from the same family

Alpine Meadow-­rue, Baneberry, Bulbous Buttercup, Candle Larkspur, Celery-leaved Crowfoot, Columbine, Common Meadow-rue, Common Water Crowfoot, Creeping Buttercup, Creeping Spearwort, Eastern Pasque Flower, Forking Larkspur, Glacier Buttercup, Globeflower, Goldilocks, Great Spearwort, Greater Meadow­-rue, Hepatica, Kashubian Buttercups, Lesser Celandine, Lesser Meadow-rue, Lesser Spearwort, Marsh Marigold, Monkshood, Mousetail, Multiflowered Buttercup, Northern Wolfsbane, Pasque Flower, Pond Water Crowfoot, Pygmy Buttercup, Ranunculus fallax, Red Baneberry, Shining Meadow-rue, Small Meadow-rue, Small Pasque Flower, Snow Buttercup, Snowdrop Anemone, Spring Pasque Flower, Three-leaved Anemone, Winter Aconite, Wood Anemone, Yellow Wood Anemone

Trees and bushes from the same family

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Ranunculus acris is a species of flowering plant in the familyRanunculaceae, and is one of the more common buttercups across Europe and temperate Eurasia. Common names include meadow buttercup,^[1]tall buttercup,^[2]common buttercup and giant buttercup.

Description[edit]

Ranunculus acris is a herbaceousperennial plant that grows to a height of 30 to 70 cm, with ungrooved flowing stems bearing glossy yellow flowers about 25 mm across. There are five overlapping petals borne above five green sepals that soon turn yellow as the flower matures. It has numerous stamens inserted below the ovary. The leaves are compound, with three-lobed leaflets. Unlike Ranunculus repens, the terminal leaflet is sessile. As with other members of the genus, the numerous seeds are borne as achenes.

The rare autumn buttercup (R. aestivalis) is sometimes treated as a variety of this species.^[3]

The juice of the plant is semi-poisonous to livestock, causing blistering.^[4]

Meadow Buttercup Leaf

Distribution[edit]

The plant is native to Eurasia, but has been introduced across much of the world so that it now has a circumpolar distribution.^[5] It is a naturalized species and often a weed in parts of North America,^[6] but it is probably native in Alaska and Greenland.^[7] In New Zealand it is a serious pasture weed costing the dairy industry hundreds of millions of dollars.^[8] It has become one of the few pasture weeds that has developed a resistance to herbicides.^[9]

Cultivation[edit]

In horticulture the species may be regarded as a troublesome weed, colonising lawns and paths. However, it may be a welcome feature of wildflower meadows. The double-flowered cultivarR. acris 'Flore Pleno' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.^[10][11]

Toxicity[edit]

Oils in the plant, probably present in the leaves and stems, can cause abdominal pains if consumed. When eaten by animals, the buttercups have caused diarrhea and blindness.^[12]

Uses by Native Americans[edit]

The Abenaki smash the flowers and leaves and sniff them for headaches.^[13] The Bella Coola apply a poultice of pounded roots to boils.^[14] The Micmac use the leaves for headaches.^[15] The Montagnais inhale the crushed leaves for headaches.^[16] Esa v twin software download.

The Cherokee use it as a poultice for abscesses, use an infusion for oral thrush, and use the juice as a sedative.^[17] They also cook the leaves and eat them as greens.^[17]

The Iroquois apply a poultice of the smashed plant to the chest for pains and for colds, take an infusion of the roots for diarrhea,^[18] and apply a poultice of plant fragments with another plant to the skin for excess water in the blood.^[19]

References[edit]

1. ^BSBI List 2007(xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original(xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
2. ^'Ranunculus acris'. Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 18 October 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
3. ^USDA Plants Profile: R. aestivalis.
4. ^Common Weeds of the United States. New York: Dover. 1971. p. 186. ISBN0-486-20504-5.
5. ^'Ranunculus acris'. Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. Biological Records Centre and Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
6. ^Invasive Weeds of King County, Washington
7. ^Flora of North America
8. ^Bourdôt, GW; Saville DJ (2010-08-31). 'Giant buttercup - a threat to sustainable dairy farming in New Zealand'. Proceedings of the Australasian Dairy Science Symposium: 355–359.
9. ^Cronshaw, Tim (18 May 2012). 'Profit-strangling weed immune to hebicides'. The Press.
10. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Ranunculus acris 'Flore Pleno''. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
11. ^'AGM Plants - Ornamental'(PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 84. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
12. ^Elias, Thomas S.; Dykeman, Peter A. (2009) [1982]. Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods. New York: Sterling. p. 262. ISBN978-1-4027-6715-9. OCLC244766414.
13. ^Rousseau, Jacques 1947 Ethnobotanique Abenakise. Archives de Folklore 11:145-182 (p. 166)
14. ^Smith, Harlan I. 1929 Materia Medica of the Bella Coola and Neighboring Tribes of British Columbia. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 56:47-68 (p. 57)
15. ^Chandler, R. Frank, Lois Freeman and Shirley N. Hooper 1979 Herbal Remedies of the Maritime Indians. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 1:49-68 (p. 60)
16. ^Speck, Frank G. 1917 Medicine Practices of the Northeastern Algonquians. Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Americanists Pp. 303-321 (p. 315)
17. ^ ^abHamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey 1975 Cherokee Plants and Their Uses -- A 400 Year History. Sylva, N.C. Herald Publishing Co. (p. 31)
18. ^Herrick, James William 1977 Iroquois Medical Botany. State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis (p. 320)
19. ^Rousseau, Jacques 1945 Le Folklore Botanique De Caughnawaga. Contributions de l'Institut botanique l'Universite de Montreal 55:7-72 (p. 42)

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