Ranunculus muricatus

Buttercup

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Buttercup is a naturalized annual herb found in the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Foothills, San Francisco Bay Area, and Southern California Coast in stream-banks, drainages, and low meadows at elevations below 700 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces yellow flowers with reflexed sepals 4 to 7 millimeters long and petals 4 to 8 millimeters long. Growing 15 to 50 centimeters tall with decumbent or erect stems, it spreads across the ground with a sprawling habit. Its basal and lower stem leaves are widely heart-shaped to kidney-shaped, 2 to 5 centimeters long, sometimes with three lobes and coarse scalloped edges. The fruit develops with a distinctive disk-like body 5 to 5.5 millimeters wide, featuring spiny faces and a curved 2 to 2.5 millimeter beak.

Habitat: Stream-banks, drainages, low meadows

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 700 m

Bioregions: GV, SNF, SnFrB, SCo

California counties: Humboldt, El Dorado, Mariposa, Butte, Calaveras, Solano, Sacramento, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Lake, Sonoma, Santa Clara, Riverside, Fresno, Napa, Amador, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Madera, Marin, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Alameda, Orange, Placer, Sutter, Santa Cruz, Yuba, Yolo, Tuolumne, San Luis Obispo, Colusa, Tehama, Shasta, Glenn, Merced, Mendocino, Los Angeles, Ventura, Tulare, Monterey

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