''Eriocapitella rivularis'', a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, is native to Asia. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''rivularis'' means "waterside, of the rivers", which evidently refers to one of its preferred habitats. It is commonly called the riverside windflower. In Chinese, it is called cao yu mei, which means "grass jade plum".

Description

''Eriocapitella rivularis'' is a perennial herbaceous plant with a

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

-like root structure. It is a clump-forming plant with 3–5

basal leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

, each with a petiole long, occasionally up to long. The leaf blades are lobed with three sections. Each leaf, being wider than it is long, has the overall shape of a

pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

. In addition to the basal leaves, there are 1–3 flowering stems, each long, occasionally up to long. A

whorl A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

of 3 or 4 leaves (technically

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s) wraps around each stem. The stem leaves are similar in appearance to the basal leaves but somewhat smaller. Multiple (3–5) pubescent flower stalks rise directly from the stem leaves, each stalk being long. The single flower at the end of each stalk has 5–10 sepals, but no

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s. Each sepal is long and wide. The petal-like sepals are usually white, tinged with blue on the reverse. There are 30–60

pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

s in the center of the flower, surrounded by

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s long, tipped with steel-blue anthers. The fruits are beaked

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

s long, ovoid in shape with hooked styles. In its native habitat, ''E. rivularis'' flowers from May to August. Each flower is approximately in diameter.

Taxonomy

''Eriocapitella rivularis'' was described by

Maarten J. M. Christenhusz Dr Maarten Joost Maria Christenhusz (born 27 April 1976) is a Dutch botanist, natural historian and photographer. Career He was born in Enschede, the Netherlands, received his undergraduate and master's degrees from Utrecht University in ...

and

James W. Byng James W. Byng is a British botanist who is Managing Director and Scientific Curator at Hortus Botanicus DelftTU Delft Botanic Garden, an associate of Plant Gateway, and a Visiting Research Fellow at Naturalis Biodiversity Center. He was tr ...

in 2018. Like other members of genus ''Eriocapitella'', ''E. rivularis'' was formerly a member of genus '' Anemone''. The

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

''Anemone rivularis'' Buch.-Ham. ex DC. was described in 1817.

Distribution

''Eriocapitella rivularis'' is native to Asia. It is found throughout the Himalaya region, across much of South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, ranging as far south as

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

in western Indonesia. * Western Himalaya: North India * Eastern Himalaya: Nepal, Assam (in northeast India), Tibet Autonomous Region * South Asia: India,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

* East Asia:

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

** Northwest China:

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Qinghai **

North China North China, or Huabei () is a List of regions of China, geographical region of China, consisting of the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north ...

: Hebei, Inner Mongolia ** Central China: Henan, Hubei **

South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

** Southwest China: Guizhou, Yunnan * Southeast Asia:

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, Vietnam Its preferred habitats include meadows, forest margins,

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s, streamsides, and lakesides. It is also found under alpine brush in the Himalayas at elevations up to .

Bibliography

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q89116357, from2=Q14157505 rivularis Flora of Asia Plants described in 2018 Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle