Ranunculaceae A.L. de Jussieu
Buttercup family.
Ranunculaceae, buttercup family.
Vegetative morphology. Plants herbs; perennial herbs; 1–40 cm high; with branche or unbranched stems, simple or compound leaves, without stipules but often with the petioiles dialated at the bases; without milky juice (but with acrid juice); not glandular viscid. Taproot absent. Ground-level or under-ground stems horizontal; rhizomatous, or stoloniferous; elongate. Aerial stems erect, or decumbent, or prostrate; not conspicuously jointed; not filiform; glabrous, or sparsely hairy, or densely hairy. Branches not glaucous; epidermis not flaky. Leaves heterophyllous, or not heterophyllous; in a basal tuft, or distributed along the stems, or arising singly from creeping rhizomes, or basal in a rosette; alternate; not distinctly distichous; simple, or compound; evergreen, or existing for a single season or less. Stipules present, or absent; scale-like; not sheathing; colorless. Petioles present; 4–44.82–170 mm long; glabrous. Leaf blade bases cordate, or truncate, or obtuse, or cuneate, or attenuate, or rounded. Blades 4–550 mm long; 4–90 mm wide. Blades spreading; herbaceous, or leathery; linear, or oblong, or circular, or ovate, or obovate, or reniform; without auricles; flat, or revolute; veins pinnate, or with three main veins, or veins palmate; not septate nodulose. Blades adaxial surface dull, or shiny; glabrous, or glabrescent, or scabrous, or hairy. Blades adaxial surface hairs villous, or short-silky; simple, unbranched; sparse; white and translucent. Blades abaxial surface glabrescent, or hairy. Blades abaxial surface hairs sparse, or moderately dense. Blades abaxial surface pilose, or villous, or hairs short-silky. Blades abaxial surface hairs white, or translucent hairs. Blade margins lobed, or not lobed. Blade margins entire, or serrate, or crenate; glabrous, or with non-glandular hairs; with teeth all around the blade, or toward the apex. Conspicuous hydathodes present, or absent. Leaf apices acuminate, or acute, or obtuse, or rounded. Leaflet arrangement palmate. Leaflets 3; 20–60 mm long; 1–4 mm wide; obovate.
Reproductive morphology. Plants bisexual. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems shorter than the leaves, or conspicuously taller than the leaves; with leaves, or without leaves; glabrous, or hairy. Flowering culm nodes not rooting at the lower nodes. Flag leaf sheaths not inflated. Leaf or reduced bract closely associated with the base of the inflorescence absent; without calloused tip. Flowers solitary, or in inflorescences. Inflorescence cymose; terminal, or axillary; without bulbils; main axis glabrous, or hairy. Pedicels present. Bisexual spike(s) without empty bracts at the base. Involucral bracts present, or absent. Outer involucral bracts blade surface flat, or blades cut into linear divisions. Flowers per inflorescence 1–5; small, less than 5 mm in diameter or length, or medium-sized, 5–15 mm in diameter or length, or large, more than 15 mm in diameter or length; actinomorphic. Floral scales not reflexed; not falling early. Callus not differentiated. Perianth present. Calyx sepals 3, or 5, or 6–7, or 8; free; 2–45 mm long. Calyx green, or yellow, or brown, or purple, or red, or blue, or white or translucent; herbaceous, or scarious, or petaloid; non-accrescent; glabrous, or hairy. Calyx hairs white or translucent, or brown. Petals present, or absent; free; same length as the calyx, or longer than the calyx; 3–4, or 5, or 6, or 7–8, or 9; white, or yellow, or pink; without contrasting markings; obovate, or oblanceolate; unlobed; not tipped with an awn-like bristle; 2.5–12 mm long. Flowers bisexual. Stamens 8–90; filaments all equal in length; free of the corolla; filaments glabrous. Anthers yellow; ellipsoid; 0.18–2 mm long. Nectaries present, or absent. Receptacle 1–4–12 mm high. Carpels apocarpous; 4–100. Stipes 0.1–0.3 mm long. Ovaries elliptic; ovary abruptly tapering to style; glabrous, or hairy; villous. Ovary hairs dense; white, or translucent. Styles base not enlarged, continuous with the achene; 0.2–1.2 mm long. Stigmas per style 1. Placentation axile. Ovules 1. Fruit not surrounded by a perigynium. Fruit sessile, or stalked; stalk 1.66–21 mm long. Fruit without calyx persisting; dry; a follicle, or an achene, or an aggregate of follicles; ellipsoid, or ovoid, or elongate-cylindrical, or obovate, or oblong; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Fruit 0.8–9 mm long; 0.8–4 mm wide; yellowish, or black, or brown, or purple, or green at maturity; glabrous, or hairy; surface venation reticulate. Legume valves straight. Styles modified and persisting, or may persist until dehiscence but are not modified; remaining straight; persisting in fruit 0.2–38 mm long. Seeds 1, or 3, or 4–5, or 6–15; 1–2 mm long; brown; with surfaces smooth.
Chromosome information. 2n = 14, 16, 18, 32, 48, 56, 60, 64.
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: circumpolar, or circumboreal, or amphi-Atlantic, or amphi-Beringian, or North American; Greenland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, United States, Eurasia. Arctic, or high arctic, or low arctic, or alpine, or boreal. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago widespread, or limited, or moderate. Common, or uncommon, or rare. Arctic Islands: Baffin, Devon, Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg, Parry Islands, Cornwallis, Banks, Victoria, Prince of Wales, Somerset, King William.
Cite this publication as: ‘S.G. Aiken, M.J. Dallwitz, L.L. Consaul, C.L. McJannet, L.J. Gillespie, R.L. Boles, G.W. Argus, J.M. Gillett, P.J. Scott, R. Elven, M.C. LeBlanc, A.K. Brysting and H. Solstad. 1999 onwards. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 29th April 2003. http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/’. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).