Ranunculus

Ranunculus.

Family Ranunculaceae.
There are 500 to 600 species with 38 endemic in Australia and 10 introduced.
Annual or perennial plants with rhizomes, tubers or stolons.

The spirally arranged leaves are in a basal rosette +/- on the stems.
The basal leaves are on often hairy petioles up to 45 cm long.
There are various types of leaf blades but many are palmately lobed with 3 to 5 lobes.
They may also be deeply palmately dissected or have 3 leaflets that can have coarse teeth.
Some are simple or pinnately divided into narrow linear segments.
Some have a few hairs on the underside.

Inflorescence stems, up to 50 cm high, may have hairs at the top or base.
There is often just a solitary, terminal flower but sometimes up to 5.
All the flower parts are in a spiral.

There are 5 (3 – 8) sepals that sometimes curve down and may have hairs underneath.
There are 5 to 15 petals commonly yellow, white, cream or greenish.
The petals have nectaries, often near the base or sometimes in the middle.
They may be covered by a small lobe on the petal.

The mostly dark stamens and carpels sit on an enlarged receptacle that may have hairs on it.
There are a few stamens to over 100.
There are from 6 to over 100 (700) carpels each with 1 ovule.
The fruit are a dense cluster of achenes 1 to 2 mm long, usually with a beak.
Their features are important in identifying the species.

There are many cultivars in single or double flowers.
They can be a single colour or bicoloured.
Other colours include reds, pinks, orange, purples to almost black.

J.F.

Species