genus Ranunculus
Member of
buttercup family (family Ranunculaceae)
dicots (class Magnoliopsida)
flowering plants (subphylum Angiospermae)
Except for extremely rare examples that I don't expect to encounter, there are no other wild species of this genus in the bay area.
Key features:
creeping buttercup
Ranunculus repens
lobb’s aquatic buttercup
Ranunculus lobbii
common water-crowfoot
Ranunculus aquatilis
cursed crowfoot
Ranunculus sceleratus
See also rough-fruited buttercup (Ranunculus muricatus) below for another potentially aquatic buttercup.
These buttercups all have ≤ 7 petals and potentially grow erect from land. Jepson distinguishes these buttercups by fruit. If you find any with fruit, consult Jepson. Here I’ve tried to distinguish them by flower and leaf characteristics. They are sorted here by petal length.
straightbeak buttercup
Ranunculus orthorhynchus
sacramento valley buttercup
Ranunculus canus var. canus
The deltate or lance-deltate achene beak of R. canus is usually 0.8–1.2 mm wide at the base and less than 1.5 times as long as wide. This contrasts with the narrower beaks of california buttercup (Ranunculus californicus), which are usually less than 0.6 mm wide and at least twice as long as wide.
woodland buttercup
Ranunculus uncinatus
pubescent-fruited buttercup
Ranunculus hebecarpus
Toxicity of buttercup, ranunculus (Ranunculus spp.):
1 – Skin contact with these plants can cause symptoms ranging from redness, itching, and rash to painful blisters like skin burns.
3 – Ingestion of these plants is expected to cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms that may cause illness but is not life-threatening.
3 observed taxons / 9 unobserved taxons / 2 keys
Locations: Months: For more details, use advanced search.
Chris’s observations: 99 (64 are research grade)
Taxon info: iNaturalist – Calflora – Jepson eFlora – FNA
Bay Area species: iNaturalist – Calflora
