Physical Characteristics Ranunculus repens is a PERENNIAL growing to 0.3 m (1ft) by 1 m (3ft 3in) at a fast rate. It is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to August. Ranunculus repens, the creeping buttercup, is a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa. It is also called creeping crowfoot and (along with restharrow) sitfast. One of the best known of wildflowers, the Creeping Buttercup is a low-growing, attractive wildflower. Creeping Buttercup usually grows to a height of about 30cm. This perennial has three-lobed hairy leaves and five-petalled (exceptionally with up to seven petals) yellow flowers 2 to 3cm in diameter are borne in small clusters. Creeping buttercup is a low-growing perennial with hairy leaves divided into three lobes. The flowers are perhaps the most identifiable feature and consist of five to 10 bright, shiny yellow petals. The flowers grow up to 1 inch in diameter and are broadly rounded at the apex. Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens L.) belongs to the Ranunculaceae family and is classified as a perennial. New plants form a rosette of leaves and stems, with some stems functioning as stolons. Stolons grow prostrate along the soil surface, producing shoots and roots at nodes.

• Creeping Buttercup Oregon
• Creeping Buttercup Ranunculus

Ranunculus repens, the creeping buttercup, is a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa.^[1][2] It is also called creeping crowfoot and (along with restharrow) sitfast.^[3]

Description[edit]

It is a herbaceous, stoloniferousperennial plant growing to 50 cm (20 inches) tall. It has both prostrate running stems, which produce roots and new plants at the nodes, and more or less erect flowering stems. The basal leaves are compound, borne on a 4–20 cm (1.6–7.9 inches) long petiole and divided into three broad leaflets 1.5–8 cm (0.59–3.15 inches) long, shallowly to deeply lobed, each of which is stalked, distinguishing the species from Ranunculus acris in which the terminal leaflet is sessile.^[4] The leaves higher on the stems are smaller, with narrower leaflets and may be simple and lanceolate. Both the stems and the leaves are finely hairy. The flowers are golden yellow, glossy, and 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 inches) diameter, usually with five petals, and the flower stem is finely grooved. The gloss is caused by the smooth upper surface of the petal that acts like a mirror; the gloss aids in attracting pollinating insects and thermoregulation of the flower's reproductive organs.^[5][6] The fruit is a cluster of achenes 2.5–4 mm (0.098–0.157 inches) long. Creeping buttercup has three-lobed dark green, white-spotted leaves that grow out of the node. It grows in fields and pastures and prefers wet soil.^[7][8]

Habitat[edit]

It is a very common weed of agricultural land and gardens, spreading quickly by its rooting stolons and resisting removal with a deeply anchored filamentous root ball. In Ireland: very common in damp places, ditches and flooded areas.^[4][9]

Cultivation and uses[edit]

Creeping Buttercup Oregon

Creeping buttercup was sold in many parts of the world as an ornamental plant, and has now become an invasive species in many parts of the world.^[2]

Like most buttercups, Ranunculus repens is poisonous, although when dried with hay these poisons are lost. The taste of buttercups is acrid, so cattle avoid eating them. The plants then take advantage of the cropped ground around it to spread their stolons. Creeping buttercup also is spread through the transportation of hay. Contact with the sap of the plant can cause skin blistering.^[10]

Etymology[edit]

Ranunculus is a diminutive of 'rana', meaning 'little frog'. This name is in reference to the amphibious habitat of many Ranunculus species.^[11]

Repens means 'creeping' or 'stoloniferous'.^[11]

References[edit]

1. ^Ranunculus repens L. Flora Europaea
2. ^ ^ab'Ranunculus repens'. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 24 December 2017.
3. ^Oxford English Dictionary entry for 'Sit-fast':2. Sc.a. The plants restharrow and creeping crowfoot. 1808 JAMIESON, Sitfasts, restharrow. 1825 {emem} Suppl., Sitfast, Creeping Crowfoot, Ranunculus Repens.
4. ^ ^abParnell, P. and Curtis, T. (2012). Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN978-185918-4783
5. ^Van Der Kooi, C. J.; Elzenga, J.T.M.; Dijksterhuis, J.; Stavenga, D.G. (2017). 'Functional optics of glossy buttercup flowers'. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 14 (127): 20160933. doi:10.1098/rsif.2016.0933. PMC5332578. PMID28228540.
6. ^Buttercups focus light to heat their flowers and attract insects New Scientist 25 February 2017
7. ^Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN0-340-40170-2
8. ^Flora of NW Europe: Ranunculus repens^{[permanent dead link]}
9. ^Hackney, P. (1992). Stewart and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Third Edition. Institute of Irish Studies and The Queen's University of Belfast ISBN0-85389-446-9.
10. ^Ranunculus repens. Plants for a Future
11. ^ ^abGledhill, David (2008). 'The Names of Plants'. Cambridge University Press. pp. 326, 328. ISBN9780521685535

Creeping Buttercup Ranunculus

External links[edit]

• Media related to Ranunculus repens at Wikimedia Commons