Ranunculus andersonii

Anderson's buttercup

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Anderson's buttercup is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada, Great Basin, and Desert Mountains on dry rocky slopes at elevations of 1,000 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces pink-white flowers 12 to 18 millimeters wide with distinctive spreading sepals. Growing as a small herb 8 to 18 centimeters tall, it emerges from a short, erect caudex with no rooting at the nodes. Its basal leaves are cordate and complex, featuring 1 to 2 ternate divisions with ultimate leaf segments that are elliptic to linear, with entire or slightly toothed margins. The fruit has an inflated, papery wall with strong longitudinal veins and a very short deltate beak.

Habitat: dry rocky slopes

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 1000-2500 m

Bioregions: SNH, GB, DMtns

California counties: Inyo, Mono, Modoc, Plumas, Lassen, Nevada, Sierra

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.