''Kumlienia hystricula'' (formerly ''Ranunculus hystriculus'') is a species of flowering plant in the

buttercup family Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium' ...

known by the common name waterfall false buttercup.

Description

''Kumlienia hystricula'' is a small perennial herb growing from fleshy roots and a thick

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

. It produces a basal rosette of hairless green leaves which are rounded with several round lobes. Each leaf is one to three centimeters wide and is borne on a long petiole. From the patch emerge several

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s on erect to drooping peduncles up to about 20 centimeters tall. Each flower has 5 or 6 white

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s which look like petals. The actual petals are much smaller, shiny yellow-green structures curving around the center of the bloom. There are many

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 and

pistils 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'' ...

in the center. The fruits are bristly, lance-shaped bodies a few millimeters long and clustered together.

Distribution

''Kumlienia hystricula'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it grows in wet areas in the

coniferous forests Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All exta ...

of the range.

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - Kumlienia hystriculaUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
Ranunculaceae Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Ranunculales-stub