Ranunculus Linnaeus. Common name: Buttercup, Crowfoot, Spearwort.

Key to Ranunculus

A genus of about 550 species, perennial and annual herbs, nearly cosmopolitan (most diverse in temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere), here following the circumscription of Emadzade et al. (2010), with removal of numerous small genera more closely related to Myosurus and Trautvetteria. Subgeneric and sectional taxonomy follows Hörandl & Emadzade (2012). In the R. hispidus complex, I follow Duncan's (1980) taxonomic entities, though recognizing some of his varieties as species; distributions given in many works for the R. hispidus complex are apparently garbled by differences in taxonomic concepts.

ID notes: Mature or relatively mature achenes are necessary for the identification of some species. Shape and pubescence of the receptacle is also a frequently used taxonomic character, best judged by stripping off the achenes.

References: Duncan (1980); Emadzade et al. (2010); Haines (2007b); Hörandl & Emadzade (2012); Keener (1976); Keener & Hoot (1987); Paun et al. (2005); Tamura (1993) In Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Whittemore (1997a) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (1997); Wiegleb, Bobrov, & Zalewska-Gałosz (2017). Show full citations.

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