Spearwort Buttercup - Ranunculus flammula

Spearwort Buttercup
Ranunculus flammula L.
Other names: lesser spearwort, creeping buttercup

Family: Ranunculaceae, Buttercup
Genus: Ranunculus

Description
General: low, hairless to sparingly flat-hairy perennial.
Roots slender, not at all fleshy. Stems creeping to trailing,
usually freely rooting at the nodes, up to 50 cm long, very
slender to thicker and somewhat hollow, simple to
sparingly branched.

Leaves: simple, entire, the blades from oblanceolate
and up to 2 cm broad to narrowly linear and scarcely any
broader than the slender stalks. Basal leaves long-stalked,
stem leaves opposite, smaller, short-stalked to stalkless.

Flowers: solitary from nodes, on stalks up to 10 cm
long. Sepals 5, usually more or less flat-short-hairy, 2-5
mm long. Petals usually 5 (to 11), yellow, 4-6 mm long.
Nectary scale hairless, broader than long, shallowly
pocketlike, the side edges joined, the upper edge straight
to rounded. Receptacle nearly ovoid, hairless.
Flowering time: May-July.

Fruits: achenes, 5-25 in a round cluster, mostly 2-3 mm
long, hairless, finely net-veined to nearly smooth, beaked
with the short, stout, curved style about 0.5 mm long.

Distribution
Shores of streams, lakes and ponds, mostly in mud, often
where brackish, plains to subalpine zone, in w. and s.c.
parts of MT. Widespread in most of N. America.

Toxic and Medicinal Plant: see below.

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Contents
Identification
English Names Index
Scientific Names Index
Family Index

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Poisonous Properties:
All parts of buttercups are mildly poisonous when fresh, the toxins are destroyed by heat or by drying. The plant also has a strongly acrid juice that can cause blistering to the skin. Ingestion causes burning of the mouth, abdominal pain, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea. Skin redness, burning sensation, and blisters may follow contact with the sap. The toxic principle is protoanemonin, released from the glycoside ranunculin. However, larger quantities must be eaten for serious toxic effects to be experienced.

Medicinal Uses:
The whole plant spearwort buttercup has agents that strongly causes reddening or irritation when applied to the skin. A tincture of the plant has been used to cure ulcers.