RANUNCULUS 
125 
Genus 13. Ranunculus 
Ranunculus [Tournefort Inst. 285, t. 149 (1700);] L. Sp. PI. 548 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 243 (1754); 
Prantl in Pflanzenfam. iii, pt. 2, 61 et 64 (1891). 
Herbs, annual or perennial, usually acrid. Leaves mostly spiral ; base with or without a stipuloid 
sheath ; laminae entire or more or less deeply lobed, lobes often in 3’s and sometimes much 
dissected. Inflorescence cymose. Thalamus conspicuous, often more or less elongate. Sepals 3 — 6, 
usually 5, often more or less caducous. Nectar-leaves or petals 5 — 12, usually 5, yellow or white, 
nectar secreted in a basal pit which is either naked or covered by a scale, expanded into a petal or 
petal-like limb. Stamens usually 00 , anthers extrorse. Ovaries usually 00 , apocarpous. Style very 
short. Ovules 1 in each ovary. Fruit a subspherical or cylindrical group of achenes ; achenes 
usually 00 , more or less beaked. 
[In addition to the 22 British species of Ranunculus described in this work, the two following have also been recorded 
as British. 
Ranunculus gramineus L. Sp. PL 549(1753); Smith Eng. Bot. t. 2306 (1811). This has linear leaves, few and 
large flowers about 3 cm. in diameter, and yellow petals. Withering Bot. arr. ed. 3, vol. ii, 505 (1796), records it for 
Wales, on the authority of a Mr Pritchard. The record is probably erroneous. 
Ranunculus alpestris L. Sp. Pl. 553(1753); Smith in Trans. Linn. Soc. x, 343 (1811); Eng. Bot. t. 2390(1812). 
This has solitary flowers about 2 - 2 cm. in diameter and white petals. Smith states that it was “gathered by Mr G. Don by 
the sides of little rills and in other moist places, about two or three rocks on the mountain of Clova.... Mr Don informs 
us that it rarely produces flowers where he observed it, and that the plant is not plentiful” {Eng. Bot. no. 2390). There 
is a specimen in herb. Smith in the rooms of the Linnaean Society of London with the following inscription : — “ By little 
rills among rocks on the mountain of Clova, Angusshire, seldom flowering: G. Don, Apr. 3, 1809.” The record appears not 
to have ever been confirmed ; but it is very circumstantial.] 
About 250 species; cosmopolitan. 
British sections of Ranunculus 
Section I. Ficaria (see below). Perennial geophytes. Leaves petioled ; petioles with a basal 
sheath ; laminae simple, cordate ; stem-leaves (when present) opposite. Sepals 3 — 6, usually 3. 
Petals or nectar-leaves 6 — 12, usually 7 — 9, yellow, basal nectary covered with a scale. Achenes 
inflated. 
Section II. Flammula (p. 126). Perennial or annual. Laminae simple, mostly more or less 
elongate, entire or merely dentate. Petals 5, yellow ; nectary covered by a scale. Achenes com- 
pressed or not, pitted or granulate. 
Section III. Eu-Ranunculus (p. 129). Perennial or annual. Laminae palmatipartite. 
Petals 5, yellow, nectary usually covered by a scale (but cf. R. auricomus). Receptacle sometimes 
elongate. Achenes usually compressed, bordered, keeled. 
Section IV. Hecatonia (p. 137). Annual. Laminae 3-lobed or 3-partite. Petals yellow, 
nectary naked. Receptacle markedly elongate. Achenes compressed, bordered, keeled. 
Section V. Batrachium (p. 138). Aquatic or mud-plants, perennial (? rarely annual). Laminae 
either (1) all floating, with 3 — 5 lobes or divisions, or (2) all submerged, segments numerous and 
capillary, or (3) some floating and some submerged. Pedicels more or less recurved at maturity. 
Flowers protandrous. Receptacle subglobose or somewhat elongate. Petals usually 5, rarely 6 — 9, white, 
with usually a yellow base, nectary naked. Achenes turgid, not margined, transversely wrinkled. 
Section I. FICARIA 
Ficaria [Dillenius App. Cat. Giss. 108 (1719) as a genus;] Hudson Ft. Angl. 213 (1762) as a genus; 
Boissier FI. Orient, i, 20 (1867); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France i, 72 (1893). 
For characters, see above. Only British species : — R. ficaria. 
I. RANUNCULUS FICARIA. Pilewort or Lesser Celandine. Plates 126, 127, 128 
Chelidonium minus Turner Names Dv (1548); Gerard Herball 669 (1597); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 246 (1724). 
Ranunculus ficaria L. Sp. PI. 550(1753)!; Smith Ft. Brit. 589 (1800); Syme Eng. Bot. 1,47(1863); 
Rouy et Foucaud Ft. France i, 72 (1893); Ficaria verna Hudson FI. Angl. 214 (1762). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 584; Curtis FI. Lond. i, no; Martyn Ft. Rust. t. 21 ; Ft. Dan. t. 499; Sv. 
Bot. t. 17; Reichenbach Icon, iii, t. 1, fig. 4571, as Ficaria calthaefolia et fig. 4572, as F. ranuncido'ides ; Syme 
Eng. Bot. i, t. 39, as R. \ficaria subsp.] eu-ficaria. 
