W161 

 (leaf 2) 

 BUTTERCUPS (Ranun'culus spp.) 



The buttercups, often called crowfoots, compose a large genus of 

 from 275 to 300 species belonging to the buttercup family (Ranuncu- 

 laceae). The common name buttercup comes from the fancied re- 

 semblance of the shiny yellow flowers to a cup of butter. The 

 local name crowfoot alludes to the similarity in leaf shape of some 

 species to the foot of a crow. The generic name Ranunculus is a 

 Latin word, diminutive of rcma, a frog, and means little frog ; some 

 species growing in wet places where frogs are found. 



Although certain species will survive in moderately dry sites, the 

 buttercups are essentially plants of moist and wet sites, and are 

 widely distributed in the temperate and cool regions of the world. 

 They are annual or perennial herbs, having alternate, lobed, divided, 

 or entire leaves often with a variety of leaf shapes on the same 

 plant. The flower parts are not constant, the outer ones (sepals), 

 which soon fall off, are mostly five. The petals also are commonly 

 5 in number, but may be up to 15, and rarely as few as 1 or 3. 

 The petals are yellow, or, in a few species, white and at the base are 

 provided with a nectar pit covered by a scale or with a scale only. 

 There are numerous stamens and the many, usually beaked, seeds 

 (achenes) usually form a conspicuous cone or head at the tip of the 

 flower stalk. 



Although widespread, the buttercups are seldom important forage 

 plants for domestic livestock. Practically all species are low in 

 palatability, and the majority of them complete growth and dis- 

 appear from the range before midsummer. However, most species 

 are of considerable value as deer and elk forage, these animals com- 

 monly using the range early when buttercups are most palatable. 

 All species have a more or less acrid juice. A few of the more 

 notably acrid species, such as tall buttercup (R. acris), and espe- 

 cially rogue buttercup, or cursed crowfoot (R. sceleratus), are poi- 

 sonous. 1 Creeping spearwort (R. flammula reptans) may also be 

 poisonous as the species, lesser spearwort (R. flammula), which oc- 

 curs in England, has been shown to be fatal to cattle and horses. 2 

 Long (op: cit.) reports that, in England, the poisonous properties 

 of buttercup vary with the species, the part of the plant, and the 

 season of the year. In the early spring, he states, but little of the 

 poisonous principle is present and some species are not at all poison- 

 ous ; the flowers are the most poisonous part, then the leaves, and the 

 stem. The toxic principle is volatile and is dissipated in drying, so 

 that buttercups are harmless in hay. The action is chiefly that of an 

 irritant, raising blisters on the skin; when eaten by livestock these 

 species cause inflammation of the mouth and throat and even gas- 

 tritis, which may prove fatal. 



A number of species, chiefly European and Asiatic, have been culti- 

 vated as ornamentals. Through breeding and selection, chiefly of 



1 Wood, H. C., Remington, J. P., and Sadtler, S. P., assisted by Lyons, A. B., and 



WOOd, H. C.. Jr. THE DISPENSATORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BT DR. GEO. B. 



WOOD AND DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. Ed. 19, thoroughly rev. and largely rewritten . . . 1,947 

 pp. Philadelphia and London. 1907. 



2 Long. H. C. PLANTS POISONOUS TO LIVESTOCK. 119 pp., illus. Cambridge. 1917. 



