Ranunculus repens

Ranunculus repens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Ranunculaceae
Genus:	Ranunculus
Species:	R. repens
Binomial name
Ranunculus repens L.

Ranunculus repens (Creeping Buttercup) is a flowering plant in the buttercup family, native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa.^[1][2] It is also called Creeping Crowfoot and (along with Restharrow) Sitfast.^[3]

Growth

It is a herbaceous, stoloniferous perennial plant growing to 50 cm tall. It has both prostrate running stems, which produce roots and new plants at the nodes, and more or less erect flowering stems. The basal leaves are divided into three broad leaflets 1.5–8 cm long, shallowly to deeply lobed, borne on a 4–20 cm long petiole; leaves higher on the stems are smaller, with narrower leaflets. Both the stems and the leaves are finely hairy. The flowers are bright golden yellow, 2–3 cm diameter, usually with five petals. The fruit is a cluster of achenes 2.5–4 mm long. Creeping buttercup has three-lobed dark green, white-spotted leaves that grow out of the node. It grows in fields and pastures and prefers wet soil.^[4][5]

Cultivation and uses

Creeping Buttercup was sold in many parts of the world as an ornamental plant, and has now become an invasive species in many parts of the world.^[2]

Like most buttercups, R. repens is poisonous, although when dried with hay these poisons are lost. The taste of buttercups is acrid, so cattle avoid eating them. The plants then take advantage of the cropped ground around it to spread their stolons. Creeping buttercup also is spread through the transportation of hay. Contact with the sap of the plant can cause skin blistering.^[6]

References

1. ^ Flora Europaea: [1]
2. ^ ^{a b} Germplasm Resources Information Network: Ranunculus repens
3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary entry for "Sit-fast":2. Sc.a. The plants restharrow and creeping crowfoot. 1808 JAMIESON, Sitfasts, restharrow. 1825 {emem} Suppl., Sitfast, Creeping Crowfoot, Ranunculus Repens.
4. ^ Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN 0-340-40170-2
5. ^ Flora of NW Europe: Ranunculus repens
6. ^ Plants for a Future: Ranunculus repens