RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY) 



159 



MEADOW BUTTERCUP 



Ranunculus dcm, L. 



Other English names : Tall Crowfoot, Butter Flower, Blister Flower, 



Goldcup, Kingcup. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : May to September. 

 Seed-time: June to October. 

 Range : Throughout the United States and Canada ; most common 



and troublesome at the North. 

 Habitat: Meadows, pastures, roadsides, and waste places. 



The juices of this weed are so acrid as to draw blisters when 

 applied to the skin. Grazing cattle seem to know its character and 

 shun the plant. This irritant 

 quality is dispelled in drying, 

 however, and, though as hay the 

 plant is woody and innutritious, 

 it will not then injure the mouths 

 and intestines of animals that 

 eat it. 



Stem two to three feet tall, 

 springing from clustered and 

 fibrous roots, erect, hollow, hairy, 

 branched at top. Basal leaves 

 tufted, three- to seven-parted, 

 the divisions again cleft into 

 several narrow, pointed lobes ; 

 petioles long, slender, and hairy ; 

 upper leaves short-petioled, dis- 

 tant, usually three-parted. 

 Flowers bright yellow, nearly an 

 inch broad, the five petals broadly 

 obovate, much longer than the 

 spreading calyx. Fruits in small, 

 globose heads, the achenes some- 

 what compressed, and with short- 

 pointed beaks. (Fig. 109.) 

 Means of control 



Where the plants are few, pulling and hoe-cutting will repay the 

 labor ; but grass lands too rankly cursed with Ranunculus should 



FIG. 109. Meadow Buttercup 

 (Ranunculus acris). X J- 



