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side-view of the Ranunculus pusillus

 

individual achene

basal leaf blade

petal of Ranunculus pusillus

bract with a nectary gland

cauline leaf that is spear-like; where this species gets its common name

Head of achenes

Basal leaves

with petioles 1-6 cm long; simple, oblong to ovate or rarely cordate, to 5 cm long, 5-15 mm broad, entire or a little irregular, truncate or rounded at base, truncate to rounded or acute at apex, the stipular leaf bases to 1 cm long

Cauline leaves

alternate, sessile, linear to lanceolate to oblanceolate or very narrowly elliptic, 1-5cm long, 2-5 mm broad, margins entire

Ecology

 swamps, ponds; in shallow water and mud ditches, marshes, bogs, seepage areas

Family

RANUNCULACEAE Jussieu (Crowfoot Family or Buttercup Family)

Flowering period

spring (April-June)

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Flowers

pedicels to 15 mm long in flower, glabrous; glabrous receptacle;sepals 5, greenish-yellow, spreading, ovate, 1-2mm long, .8-1mm broad, glabrous or sparsely hairy; petals 1 to 3 or rarely 5, yellow, obovate, 1.5-2.5 mm long, 1 mm broad; nectary scales glabrous, forming a pocket .2mm deep, truncate; stamens 5 to 10

Fruit

heads of achenes are hemispheric to short-ovate and only 2-3mm; long and smooth; tuberculate, glabrous; beak absent or nearly so, to 0.1 mm

Habit and stem features

annual; stems erect or ascending, rooting at the most proximal nodes, 1-5 dm long; filiform roots; glabrous

Place of Species Publication

Encycl.6:99.1804

References

  1. Correll, Donovan S. and Marshall C. Johnson. 1970. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas. vol. 6, Texas Research Foundation. Renner, TX, 645.
  2. LouisianaState University Herbarium. 2005. (www.herbarium.lsu.edu). A257 Life Sciences Annex Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-1705 USA.
  3. Radford, Albert. E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. The University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 463.
  4. Thomas, R. Dale and Charles M. Allen. 1998. Atlas of the Vascular Flora of Louisiana. vol. 3: Dicotyledons Fabaceae - Zygophyllaceae. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and Natural Heritage Program. 127-128.
  5. USDA, NRCS. 2004. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
  6. Whittemore, Alan T. and Bruce D. Parfitt. 1997. Ranunculaceae in vol.3. Flora of North America Committee, eds. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 1993+, 7+ vols. New York and Oxford. 

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Synonyms

Ranunuculus oblongifolius