Ranunculaceae A.L. de Jussieu
Buttercup family.
Plants herbs; perennial herbs; with single unbranched stems, or with branched or unbranched matted stems, or with unbranched stems arising from a basal rosette of leaves, or with leaves or spreading stems arising from a caudex, or with erect stems that branch at intervals along the stem, or with stems trailing along the ground; more than 15 cm high; 1–40 cm high; not vegetatively proliferating by bulbils; without milky juice; not glandular viscid. Taproot absent. Ground level or underground 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 mostly basal, or distributed along the stems, or arising singly from creeping rhizomes, or all basal in a rosette; alternate; not distinctly distichous; simple, or compound; heterophyllous, or not heterophyllous; evergreen, or deciduous. Stipules present, or absent; scale-like; not sheathing; without glands. Petioles without sessile glands. Blades 0.4–55 cm long; 4–90 mm wide; spreading from the vertical; herbaceous, or leathery; linear, or oblong, or circular, or ovate, or obovate, or reniform; without auricles; flat, or revolute; with pinnate veins, or with three main veins, or with palmate veins; not septate nodulose; glabrous, or scabrous, or hairy; with hairs equally dense on both surfaces. Hairs on blades simple. Blades adaxial surface dull, or shiny; glabrous, or glabrescent, or scabrous, or hairy; hairs villous, or short-silky; hairs sparse; hairs white and translucent. Blades abaxial surface glabrescent, or hairy; hairs sparse, or moderately dense; hairs white, or translucent. Leaf bases cordate, or truncate, or obtuse, or cuneate, or attenuate, or rounded. Leaves lobed, or not lobed. Leaf margins entire, or serrate, or crenate; with teeth all around leaf, or toward apex only. Leaf margins, degree of incision 20–25%. Leaflet arrangement trifoliate; leaflets 20–60 mm long; 1–4 mm wide; leaflets obovate.
Flowering stems shorter than the leaves, or conspicuously taller than the leaves; 1.2–25 cm long; with leaves, or without leaves; glabrous, or hairy. 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. Bisexual spike(s) without empty bracts at the base. Inflorescence with involucral bracts, or without involucral bracts. Involucre bracts with a flat blade surface, or with 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; borne on a stalk; bisexual; actinomorphic. Floral scales not reflexed; not falling early. Callus not differentiated. Perianth present. Calyx present; sepals 3, or 5, or 6–7, or 8; sepals free; sepals 2–45 mm long; green, or yellow, or brown, or purple, or red, or blue, or white or translucent; herbaceous, or scarious, or petaloid; glabrous, or hairy; hairs white or translucent, or brown; non-accrescent. Petals present, or absent; 3–4, or 5, or 6, or 7–8, or 9; free; white, or yellow, or pink; without contrasting markings; obovate, or oblanceolate; unlobed; not tipped with an awn-like bristle; 2.5–12 mm long; not spurred; same length as the calyx, or longer than the calyx. Stamens 8–90; filaments all equal in length; free of the corolla; filaments glabrous. Anthers yellow; ellipsoid; 0.18–2 mm long. Nectaries in bisexual flowers 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; ovary villous. Ovary hair dense; white, or translucent. Styles present. Styles base not enlarged, continuous with the achene. Styles 0.2–1.2 mm long. Stigmas per style 1. Placentation axile. Ovules 1. Fruit not surrounded by a perigynium; without calyx persisting; a follicle, or an achene; ellipsoid, or ovoid, or elongate-cylindrical, or obovate, or oblong; 0.8–9 mm long; 0.8–4 mm wide; sessile, or stalked; stalk 1.66–21 mm long; dry; dehiscent, or indehiscent; yellowish, or black, or brown, or purple, or green at maturity; glabrous, or hairy; surface reticulate. Legume valves straight. Styles style modified modifying and persisting, or style may persist until dehiscence but is not modified. Styles 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; smooth.
Chromosome information. 2n = 14, 16, 18, 32, 48, 56, 60, 64.
Distribution. Circumpolar, or circumboreal, or amphi-Atlantic, or amphi-Beringian, or North American, or not circumpolar, amphi-Atlantic, amphi-Beringian, or North American. Arctic, or high arctic, or low arctic, or alpine, or boreal. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago wide-spread, or limited, or moderate. Common, or uncommon, or rare. Northern hemisphere: Greenland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, United States, Eurasia. Canada: Alta., B.C., Lab., Man., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T. (Frank.), N.W.T. (Keew.), N.W.T. (Mack.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon. USA: Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho., Maine, Mich., Minn., Mont., Nev., N.H., N.Mex., N.York, Oreg., S. Dak., Utah, Vt., Wash., Wyo. Arctic Islands: Baffin, Devon, Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg, Parry Islands, Cornwallis, Banks, Victoria, Prince of Wales, Somerset, King William.
Ecology and habitat. Substrate acidic, or calcareous, or peat; aquatic, or wet meadows, or moist areas, or snow beds, or rocky sites; around the margins of ponds, along streams; aquatic; acidic, or calcareous.
Miscellaneous. Species in world FNA gives 250, genera in world 50 (FNA gives ca. 60). Genera in study region: Anemone, Caltha, Coptis, Pulsatilla, Ranunculus.
Classification. Subclass Dicotyledonae. Dahlgren’s Superorder Ranunculiflorae, Order Ranunculales. Cronquist’s Subclass Magnoliidae, Order Ranunculales. Takhtajan’s Subclass Ranunculidae, Superorder Ranunculanae, Order Ranunculales.
Cite this publication as: P.J. Scott, S.G. Aiken, R.L. Boles, and M. J. Dallwitz. 2000 onwards. ‘Ranunculaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval.’ Version: 6th November 2000. http://http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).