''Ranunculus bulbosus'', commonly known as bulbous buttercup or St. Anthony's turnip, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

in the

buttercup ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about almost 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed in Europe, ...

family

Ranunculaceae 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' ...

. It has bright yellow flowers, and deeply divided, three-lobed long-petioled basal leaves.

Description

The stems are 20–40 cm tall, erect, branching, and slightly hairy, with a swollen corm-like base.RH Uva, JC Neal and JM Ditomaso (1997) ''Weeds of The Northeast'', Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. pp. 294-295 There are alternate and sessile leaves on the stem. The flower forms at the apex of the stems, with 5–7 petals, the sepals strongly reflexed. The flowers are glossy yellow and 1.5–3 cm wide. The plant blooms from April to July.

Distribution

The native range of ''Ranunculus bulbosus'' is Western Europe between about 60°N and the Northern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

. It grows in both the eastern and western parts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

as an introduced weed. Bulbous buttercup grows in lawns, pastures and fields in general, preferring nutrient-poor, well-drained soils. Although it doesn't generally grow in proper crops or improved

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

, it is often found in hay fields and in coastal grassland.

Etymology

The bulbous buttercup gets its name from its distinctive perennating organ, a bulb-like swollen underground stem or

corm A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation). The word ' ...

, which is situated just below the soil surface. After the plant dies in heat of summer, the corm survives underground through the winter.S Coles (1973) ''Ranunculus bulbosus'' L in Europe. Watsonia 9: 207-228J Sarukhan (1974) Studies on plant demography: ''Ranunculus repens'' L., ''R. bulbosus'' L. and ''R. acris'' L.: II. Reproductive strategies and seed population dynamics. The Journal of Ecology: 151-177 Although the presence of a corm distinguishes ''Ranunculus bulbosus'' from some other species of buttercup such as ''Ranunculus acris'', the species also has distinctive reflexed

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 coine ...

s. Other names for the bulbous buttercup are "Goldcup" because of the colour and shape of the leaves, and "Frogs-foot" from their form.

Chemical constituents

This plant, like other

s, contains the toxic

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

ranunculin Ranunculin is an unstable glucoside found in plants of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). On maceration, for example when the plant is wounded, it is enzymatically broken down into glucose and the toxin protoanemonin Protoanemonin (sometimes ...

. It is avoided by livestock when fresh, but when the plant dries the toxin is lost, so hay containing the plant is safe for animal consumption.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q939633 bulbosus Flora of Europe Medicinal plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus