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Ranunculus sessiliflorus

Description

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Family Ranunculaceae

Herbs perennial or annual , sometimes subshrubs or herbaceous or woody vines . Leaves basal and cauline, alternate, rarely opposite or whorled , simple or variously compound , palmately nerved, rarely penninerved , with or without stipules. Inflorescence a simple or compound monochasium, dichasium, simple or compound raceme, or flowers solitary. Flowers bisexual , sometimes unisexual , actinomorphic , rarely zygomorphic, hypogynous. Sepals 3--6 or more, free , petaloid or sepaloid , imbricate or sometimes valvate in bud. Petals present or absent, 2--8 or more, free, usually with nectaries. Stamens numerous , rarely few, free; filaments linear or filiform ; anthers latrorse , introrse , or extrorse ; sometimes some sterile stamens becoming staminodes. Carpels numerous or few, rarely 1, free, rarely connate to various degrees ; ovary with 1 to many ovules. Fruit follicles or achenes, rarely capsules or berries . Seeds small, with abundant endosperm and minute embryo.

About 60 genera and 2500 species: worldwide, but richly represented in N temperate regions , particularly in E Asia; 38 genera (four endemic) and 921 species (604 endemic) in China.[1]

Genus Ranunculus

Herbs, annual or perennial , from tuberous roots , caudices, rhizomes, stolons, or bulbous stem bases . Leaves basal, cauline, or both, simple , variously lobed or parted , or compound , all petiolate or distal leaves sessile; cauline leaves alternate (rarely a distal pair opposite in Ranunculus sect. Flammula ) . Leaf blade reniform to linear , margins entire, crenate , or toothed . Inflorescences terminal or axillary , 2-50-flowered cymes to 25 cm or solitary flowers; bracts present or absent, small or large and leaflike, not forming involucre. Flowers bisexual , radially symmetric ; sepals sometimes persistent in fruit, 3-5(-6), green or sometimes purple, yellow, or white, plane (base saccate in R . ficaria ), oblong to elliptic , ovate , or lanceolate, 1-15 mm; petals 0-22(-150), distinct , yellow, rarely white, red, or green, plane, linear to orbiculate, 1-26 mm; nectary present, usually covered by scale; stamens (5-) 10-many; filaments filiform ; staminodes absent between stamens and pistils; pistils 4-250, simple; ovule 1 per ovary; style present or absent. Fruits achenes, rarely utricles, aggregate, sessile, discoid , lenticular , globose , obovoid , or cylindric , sides sometimes veined; beak present or absent, terminal, straight or curved , 0-4.5 mm. x = 7, 8.

Species about 300: worldwide except lowland tropics.

Most Ranunculus species are poisonous to stock; when abundant, they may be troublesome to ranchers. A few species with acrid juice were formerly used as vesicatories. The genus is badly in need of biosystematic work. Apomixis and interspecific hybridization occur in several Old World groups of buttercups; some of the taxonomic complexity of the New World species probably results from these processes.

Considerable disagreement exists among authors on the proper generic and infrageneric classification of Ranunculus . Most of the subgenera accepted here have been treated as separate genera at one time or another. All recent studies have been based on local or continental floras , however, and classifications proposed for one region may not work for the plants of other regions. Like most North American workers, I have followed the generic and infrageneric classification of L. D. Benson (1948), who gave by far the most thorough and best documented study of the problem. The genus and its subdivisions should be studied on a worldwide basis.[2]

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,176 meters (0 to 3,858 feet).[3]

Taxonomy

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Similar Species

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Members of the genus Ranunculus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1912 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

R. abaensis · R. abchasicus · R. abditus · R. aberdaricus · R. aberrans · R. abnormis · R. aborticus · R. abortificus · R. abortivus (Small-Flowered Buttercup) · R. abortivus eucyclus · R. abortivus var. abortivus (Littleleaf Buttercup) · R. abortivus var. australis · R. abrotanifolius · R. abstrusus · R. abulensis · R. abyssinicus · R. acarpellophorus · R. acaulis · R. accedens · R. accessivus · R. acer (Cmmon Buttercup) · R. acetosellaefolius · R. acetosellifolius · R. acidotus · R. acinaciformis · R. acinacilobus · R. aconitifolius · R. aconitifolius 'Flore Pleno' (White Bachelors Buttons) · R. aconitifolius flore pleno 'Batchelor's Button' · R. aconitifolius 'Luteus Plenus' · R. acrifoliiformis · R. acriformis (Sharpleaf Buttercup) · R. acriformis var. acriformis (Sharpleaf Buttercup) · R. acriformis var. montanensis (Mountain Sharp Buttercup) · R. acris (Common Meadow Buttercup) · R. acris borealis · R. acris 'Citrinus' · R. acris 'Cricket' · R. acris 'Farrer's Yellow' · R. acris 'Flore-Pleno' · R. acris 'Flore Pleno' · R. acris friesianus · R. acris 'Hedgehog' · R. acris japonicus · R. acris L. var. frigidus Regel · R. acris pumilus · R. acris 'Stevenii' · R. acris subsp. hultenii · R. acris subsp. japonicus · R. acris subsp. nipponicus · R. acris subsp. pumilus · R. acris subsp. subcorymbosus · R. acris 'Sulphureum' · R. acris 'Sulphureus' · R. acris var. acris (Meadow Buttercup) · R. acris var. b (Meadow Buttercup) · R. acris var. frigidus (Meadow Buttercup) · R. acris var. pyrenaeus · R. acrophilus · R. acuistylus · R. acutidens · R. acutidentatus · R. acutidentiformis · R. acutilobus · R. acutimammus · R. acutipartitus · R. acutiserratus · R. acutiusculus · R. acutulans · R. adoneus (Alpine Buttercup) · R. adoneus alpinus · R. adoneus var. adoneus (Alpine Buttercup) · R. adoneus var. alpinus (Alpine Buttercup) · R. adoxifolius · R. adscendens · R. adunans · R. aduncus · R. aemulans · R. aeolicus · R. aequalis · R. aequidens · R. aesontinus · R. aestivalis (Autumn Buttercup) · R. affinis · R. affinis cardiophyllus · R. affinis micropetalus · R. affinis var. flabellata · R. affinis var. ternatus · R. afghanicus · R. africanus · R. afzelii · R. agerii · R. aggregatus · R. agrarius · R. aguatilis · R. agynophorus · R. akkemensis · R. alaiensis · R. alaschanicus · R. alatus

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 16, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Wencai Wang, Dezhi Fu, Liang-Qian Li, Bruce Bartholomew, Anthony R. Brach, Bryan E. Dutton, Michael G. Gilbert, Yuichi Kadota, Orbélia R. Robinson, Michio Tamura, Michael J. Warnock, Guanghua Zhu & Svetlana N. Ziman "Ranunculaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 6 Page 133. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Alan T. Whittemore "Ranunculus". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 257.080 meters (843.438 feet), Standard Deviation = 371.260 based on 132 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 2009-07-03