Ranunculus cardiophyllus 

 Heart-leaved buttercup 



A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ranunculus cardiophyllus 



2. COMMON NAME: Heart-leaved buttercup 



3. FAMILY: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family) 



4. GENUS: Ranunculus (Buttercup) 



5. SPECIES: R. cardiophyllus (Lat. heart-leaved, based on the 

 outline of the basal leaf) 



This taxon is considered to be poorly understood; it is similar 

 to R. pedatif idus and R. inamoenus (Welsh et al. 1987) . Scoggan 

 (1978) considers it to be a variety of R. pedatif idus . The 

 presence of R. cardiophyllus and R, pedatif idus as well as R. 

 inamoenus in the Sweetgrass Hills is believed to represent the 

 only area in the United States where these related taxa overlap 

 in distribution. 



B. PRESENT LEGAL OR OTHER FORMAL STATUS 



1. FEDERAL STATUS 



a. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: None 

 b- U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: Watch 

 c. U.S. FOREST SERVICE: None 



2. STATE: Ranunculus cardiophyllus has a state rank of critically 

 imperiled (51) based on a total of seven records in three 

 counties, most sites noted as having potential threats and having 

 little or no protection. There are no known large populations 

 among the seven records. 



C. DESCRIPTION 



1. GENERAL NONTECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Terrestrial, upright 

 herbaceous perennial with relatively conspicuous yellow flowers 

 with shiny-looking petals, usually one per stem, occasionally 

 more (Figure 7) . The simple basal leaf has shallowly-lobed 

 margins and a cordate base. It is necessary to consider 

 technical achene and nectary scale features to make positive 

 identification. 



2. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Perennial from fibrous roots, the stems 

 erect, rather freely branched, not nodally rooting, 15-40 cm. 



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