Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Graceful Buttercup
Ranunculus inamoenus
Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae)

"Inamoenus" is Latin for "not pleasant," "not attractive," "drab." Why Edwin Greene, who named the plant in 1896, thought "inamoenus" an appropriate name for this common and dainty plant, no one seems to know. Perhaps he just meant, "common," which this buttercup certainly is. Eschscholtzii's Buttercup (Ranunculus eschscholtzii is often confused with this species. The main characteristics that separate the fully grown plants are their height (R. inamoenus is often taller); the size of their flowers (R. inamoenus usually has somewhat smaller flowers); and the clefts in their round (R. inamoenus has shallowly and R. eschscholtzii usually has more deeply cut ).


© Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Description

plants with stems from 4 to 12" tall, or hairy. to over 1" wide, and to , scalloped or some divided, long-petioled. Stem leaves , once or twice divided into or segments. usually somewhat shorter than the petals, which are from 1/8 to 1/3" long, yellow, narrowly elliptical or . Many in a cylindrical head.

Field Marks

Slender plant with leaves varying from round to deeply divided. Very small and few but bright yellow flowers

© Al Schneider

oblanceolate -- top wider than bottom

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

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

orbicular -- Circular or nearly circular in outline.

obovate -- Teardrop-shaped, stem attaches to tapering point.

ovate -- Oval, egg-shaped, with a tapering point.

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

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

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

sessile -- attached without a stalk. For example, a leaf that clasps the stalk. A petiolate leaf has a stalk.

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

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

lobe -- Being divided by clefts.