Ranunculus eschscholtzii var. oxynotus

Eschscholtz's buttercup

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Eschscholtz's buttercup is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, Warner Mountains, and eastern Sierra Nevada in open, rocky alpine slopes and meadows at elevations of 2,700 to 4,300 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces yellow flowers with distinctive rounded petals. Growing with a persistent caudex 2.5 to 4.5 centimeters long and multiple leaf bases, it forms compact alpine clusters. Its basal leaves are kidney-shaped, 0.5 to 1.5 centimeters long, with shallow 5 to 9 rounded lobes and a truncate base. The plant's distinctive leaf structure, with laterally lobed segments and a central unlobed middle segment, makes it well-adapted to its high-elevation alpine habitat.

Habitat: Open, rocky alpine slopes, meadows

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: 2700-4300 m

Bioregions: SNH, SnBr, SnJt, Wrn, SNE (Sweetwater, White mtns)

California counties: San Bernardino, Tulare, Inyo, Fresno, Mono, Riverside, Calaveras, Modoc, Mariposa, Nevada, Alpine, Tuolumne, Shasta, Amador, Madera

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