Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Alpine Buttercup
Ranunculus adoneus
Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae)

Buttercup (Ranunculus adoneus) grows through snow banks and in the wet run off from these. Snow Buttercup has large (1 1/2"), bright yellow flowers with overlapping petals and brown to purple, hairy . Its leaves are deeply divided into narrow segments. The plant has a limited range through the highest mountains of the Rockies. There are several other Buttercups that grow at high altitude and enjoy snow. R. macauleyi, for instance, also has large flowers but the undersides of the are covered in dense red-black hairs and the leaves are , just slightly at the tips, and elliptical. Adonis was the Greek god of beauty and desire.


©2010 Tony Frates

Description

to 12" tall, stems . , divided into segments, the whole to about 2" long and about as broad. similar to but with progressively shorter . 5, green or brown to lavender, 1/6 to 2/5" long, hairy or . Petals 5-12, yellow, 1/5 to 3/5" long. a .

Field Marks

Tall Buttercup with large, bright yellow flowers and finely cut leaves. Often found by snow banks.

© Al Schneider

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

cauline leaves -- leaves growing on a stem and especially on the upper part.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.

Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom.

A simple leaf blade is one that is not divided into separate leaflets.

basal -- at the base, situated or attached at the base.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

petiole -- the stalk of a leaf.

blade -- Just the flat part of a leaf. Not the stem.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

alpine -- above the tree line. Thin soil, rocks, short growing season, frost, winter snow.