Tall buttercup
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Ranunculus acris L.
Common name(s): tall buttercup, common buttercup, tall crowfoot
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- in flower, early June
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- leaves deeply lobed but not divided
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- flower detail
Description:
– perennial
-leaves are
- compound
- simple
- alternate
– generally flowers May through August in ME
– generally fruits June to fall in ME
-considered noxious in Montana
-toxic to livestock
– may be confused with R. bulbosus; see left sidebar of Go Botany webpage
Habitat:
-disturbed habitats
-meadows and fields
-shores of rivers
-dominates overgrazed pastures
Natural History:
-Ranunculus: Latin rana, means “little frog,”
- many species grow in moist places
Source(s):
Hansen, R.W., S.B. Hansen and E.A. Osgood. 1991. Reproductive phenologies of selected flowering plants in eastern Maine forests. ME Agric. Exp. Station Tech. Bull. 143. 17 pp.
Heinrich, B. 1976. Flowering phenologies: Bog, woodland, and disturbed habitats. Ecology. 57(5):890-899.
Go Botany. “Ranunculus Acris L.” Ranunculus Acris (Tall Buttercup, Tall Crowfoot): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/ranunculus/acris/.
Winsconsin State Herbariuk. “Ranunculus Acris.” Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin , Department of Botany, wisflora.herbarium.wisc.edu/taxa/index.php?taxon=4752.