''Caltha sagittata'' is a low to medium height, rhizomatomous perennial

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

with ivory (or pale yellow)

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

flowers, belonging to the Buttercup family. It grows in clusters in sunny wet places in the Andes and related mountain chains. It has a

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

concentrated in the

Southern Cone The Southern Cone ( es, Cono Sur, pt, Cone Sul) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bou ...

of South America. It is by far the most robust of the Southern Hemisphere ''Caltha'' species ( section ''Psychrophila''), and also the one with a distribution which extends furthest North.

Description

''C. sagittata'' has creeping rhizomes and eventually can form extensive clusters of plants that may, dependent on location, be up to 30 cm high. The petioles are 7–30 cm long and up to 7 mm wide. The blade of the leaf has a wide arrowhead
sagittate
shape with
retuse
or blunt tip, and are between one and four cm long. Each leaf also has two basal lobes which extend as appendages that are about half as long as the main blade, and are almost free, except for a small bridge along the middle vein of the leaf. These appendages are often approximately at a right angle to the petiole. In some northern forms (sometimes regarded as a separate species, ''C. alata'') however, the appendages are in the same plane as the remainder of the leaf blade. The solitary actinomorphic (radially symmetric) flowers of 3 cm or more across have five to eight spreading, ivory to pallid yellow,

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 ...

-like sepals of ½–1½ cm long and 2–8 mm wide, and a faint scent of honey. There are between thirty and seventy five

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, with broad filaments. ''C. sagittata'' is a variable species. It is often shy flowering.

Distribution and Ecology

''C. sagittata'' is found in Argentina (provinces of Chubut, Jujuy, La Rioja, Mendoza, Neuquen, Rio Negro, Santa Cruz, San Juan, Tierra del Fuego),

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, Chile (Provinces of Coquimbo, O'Higgins, Maule, Bio Bio, Araucania, Los Lagos, Aisen, Magallanes, Reg. Metropolitana), Ecuador,

Falklands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

, and Peru. It ranges from sea level in Tierra del Fuego to about 4000 m at the banks of Lake Titicaca. It grows in moist open grassland with other low herbs, on rill banks, snowmelt trickle and sometimes in brackish habitats.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17812150 sagittata Flora of Southern America Flora of the Falkland Islands Plants described in 1823 Taxa named by Antonio José Cavanilles