Ranunculus occidentalis var. occidentalis

Western buttercup

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Western buttercup is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, central western California, and the Modoc Plateau in grassy slopes of meadows and open woodlands at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces yellow flowers with petals 5 to 10 millimeters long. Growing with erect to decumbent stems, it develops a robust habit with distinctive foliage. Its basal leaves are three-parted with ultimate leaf segments ranging from oblong to elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, featuring dentate edges. The small fruits have a curved, lanceolate beak and a glabrous or slightly bristly body measuring 2.6 to 3.6 millimeters long.

Habitat: Grassy slopes in meadows or open woodland

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, CW, MP

California counties: Lassen, Tuolumne, Kern, Tulare, Plumas, Modoc, Butte, Shasta, Sierra, Madera, Trinity, Colusa, Nevada, Yuba, Calaveras, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, Tehama, Del Norte, Sonoma, Siskiyou, Napa, Solano, El Dorado, Fresno, Marin, Placer, Santa Clara

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