Common Name

Inland Buttercup, Smooth Buttercup

Family

Ranunculaceae

Notes

Annual forb to 35cm tall. Leaves alternating up the stems, with a translucent, usually hairy, sheath at the base. Leaves 0.7-2.5cm long, 10-20mm wide, flat, hairless to sparsely hairy, the earliest leaves entire, later leaves with 3 leaflets or dissected into 3 lobes. Flowers sometimes small (less than 3mm across) pale yellow, with 1-3 small petals, solitary on stalks arising from the bases of the leaves.

The side faces of the seeds of Ranunculus pentandrus var. pentandrus are smooth, with few or no warty protuberances. The side faces of the seeds of Ranunculus pentandrus var. platycarpus have smooth conical warty protuberances, each bearing a curved hair. These differences are only easily visible with a microscope.

Description in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 311

PlantNET description with line drawing of seed and photo of dried plant:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Ranunculus~pentandrus

Photo of plant. Photographer Greg Steenbeeke, Moree, NSW