Ranunculus baudotii | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Ranunculales |
Family: | Ranunculaceae |
Genus: | Ranunculus |
Species: | R. baudotii |
Binomial name | |
Ranunculus baudotii | |
Ranunculus baudotii, brackish water-crowfoot, is a flowering plant in the Ranunculaceae (buttercup family). As the name suggests, it tends to grow near the sea, typically in pools and ditches in coastal marshes that are slightly salty due to sea spray. It can also be found inland where there is some saline influence. It is not edible and has economic uses, but it is generally valued as a plant of conservation interest and an indicator of less agriculturally improved habitat.
Brackish water-crowfoot is an annual or perennial aquatic plant with stems up to 3 m long, becoming terrestrial as its habitat dries out in summer. The submerged capillary leaves are usually about 5 cm long, but exceptionally as much as 15 cm, and are characteristically shorter than the adjacent stem internode. The floating and terrestrial laminar leaves are typically deeply 3-lobed (divided more than half way to the base) with and up to 1 cm long by 2.5 cm wide. All the leaves are arranged alternately along the stem, with petioles up to about 8 cm long (or even 20 cm long in the case of some submerged leaves). At the base of each petiole is a small, ovate stipule.
Flowering occurs between May and September in Northern Europe. The flowers are borne singly on long pedicels arising opposite to a leaf (the pedicels are up to 10x as long as the corresponding petiole). The 5 petals are white with a yellow base, a lunate nectar pit, and are contiguous at anthesis. Each petal is about 1 cm long. There are also 5 sepals about half as long as the petals, which are greenish with dark markings, especially at the tip. The hermaphroditic flowers have 15-30 stamens and up to about 65 carpels.
The fruits are achenes 1.2-1.8 mm long with thin ventral and dorsal wings at maturity and a short, lateral beak. [1] [2]
It can be very difficult to identify water-crowfoots. This species is distinguished by its habitat, which is usually very coastal, the combination of laminar and capillary leaves, and by the distinctive blue tips to the typically downward-pointing sepals. [3] Confirmation requires examination of the winged achenes and the receptacle elongating in fruit. [4]
This species was overlooked until 1839, when the name Ranunculus baudotii was published by Dominique Alexandre Godron [5] in a journal in the French city of Nancy, giving the name in honour of the botanist Charles Joseph Auguste de Baudot, from nearby Sarrebourg. He was only just in time: in 1843 other names were independently given to similar plants in two publications in Scandinavia. It has accumulated many more synonyms since then: 35 of them are listed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. [6] The most likely one to be encountered is Ranunculus peltatus subsp. baudotii(Godr.) Meikle ex C.D.K. Cook, which was coined in 1983 and has been used until recently in many botanical books.
It lies within the taxonomically difficult section Batrachium of the Ranunculaceae, a family that is known to be polyphyletic and therefore might be split. Some authors use the name Batrachium baudotii(Godr.) F.W. Schultz, which was originally coined in 1844 but may eventually be revived. [7] [8]
Godron's type specimen is located at the Institut de Botanique of the Université de Montpellier (MPU). [9]
Brackish water-crowfoot is tetraploid (2n = 32) in the northern part of its range and diploid (2n = 16) in the south. The diploid populations are more similar to pond water-crowfoot in appearance. [2]
It is known to hybridise with Ranunculus trichophyllus to give R. x segretii A. Félix and with R. aquatilis to give R. x lambertiiA. Félix. Both of these hybrids are sterile. A third hybrid with R. peltatus has been artificially synthesised, but not yet found in the wild. [10]
This species grows mainly in coastal grasslands, where it occurs in slightly brackish seasonal pools. It can also be found in highly alkaline fens and even freshwater rivers and pools inland. [2]
Although it is normally found in coastal locations, below 10 m, it also occurs in karst springs in central Europe [7] and old mineral workings and canals in England. [11] It favours the boundary between freshwater and fully saline conditions.
It is largely self-pollinated, and produces good seed, but it can also spread by fragments rooting on bare mud, thus colonising large areas very quickly, but it is unable to survive competition with dense emergent species such as Bolboschoenus maritimus .
There are no insects recorded on brackish water-crowfoot specifically [12] [13] but various species feed on Ranunculus generally and can be found producing leaf mines and other damage to plants.
Brackish water-crowfoot occurs throughout Europe, extending just as far as North Africa and westernmost Asia, but it is absent or extinct in some inland regions and countries, such as Switzerland. [9] [14] Its threat status globally has been assessed as LC (Least Concern). [15]
It is usually considered an axiophyte, or plant of conservation importance, wherever it grows. [16]
Members of the Ranunculaceae contain an irritating glycoside, ranunculin, from which the volatile substance protoanemonin is formed. Animals tend to avoid eating them because the taste is acrid, unless they are dried in hay or sprayed with herbicide. [17]
Ranunculus is a large genus of about 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.
Ranunculus repens, the creeping buttercup, is a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa. It is also called creeping crowfoot and sitfast.
This article gives an overview of the aquatic communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.
Ranunculus bulbosus, commonly known as bulbous buttercup or St. Anthony's turnip, is a perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It has bright yellow flowers, and deeply divided, three-lobed long-petioled basal leaves.
Ranunculus peltatus, the pond water-crowfoot, is a plant species in the genus Ranunculus, native to Europe, southwestern Asia and northern Africa.
Ranunculus glaberrimus, the sagebrush buttercup, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is native to interior western North America, in western Canada, the western United States, and the northwestern Great Plains.
Ranunculus sceleratus known by the common names celery-leaved buttercup, celery-leaf buttercup, and cursed buttercup is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It has a circumpolar distribution in the northern hemisphere, native to temperate and boreal North America and Eurasia, where it grows in wet and moist habitats, including ponds and streambanks.
Montia fontana, blinks is a herbaceous annual to perennial plant that grows in freshwater springs in upland regions, and in seasonally damp acid grassland in the lowlands. It is widespread throughout the world, except in southern Asia. It is rather variable in morphology, which is reflected in a complex history of taxonomy. Currently, there are three accepted subspecies which are defined largely by the appearance of the seedcoat. It is edible and consumed as a salad in some areas, but is otherwise of minimal economic impact. Because of its association with clean water habitats, it is often viewed as a species of conservation value.
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Ranunculus allenii, commonly known as Allen's buttercup, is a flowering plant in the crowfoot or buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Generally found in wetlands in northern latitudes, it bears yellow flowers in summer, which are pollinated by insects.
Ranunculus abortivus is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Its common names include littleleaf buttercup, small-flower crowfoot, small-flowered buttercup, and kidneyleaf buttercup. It is widespread across much of North America, found in all ten Canadian provinces as well as Yukon and the Northwest Territories, and most of the United States, except Hawaii, Oregon, California, and parts of the Southwest.
Ranunculus trichophyllus, the threadleaf crowfoot, or thread-leaved water-crowfoot, is a plant species in the genus Ranunculus, native to Europe, Asia and North America.
Ranunculus cortusifolius, also known as the Azores buttercup or Canary buttercup, is a plant species in the genus Ranunculus, family Ranunculaceae, the buttercup or crowfoot family. It grows on moister sites throughout the Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands but is widely cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental. There are reports of it having become naturalized in parts of California.
Ranunculus hispidus is a species of perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is commonly known as bristly buttercup or hispid buttercup. It is a small plant native to central and eastern North America that grows to a height up to 30 cm (1 ft) and has 5-petaled yellow flowers.
Ranunculus lingua, the greater spearwort, great spearwort, tongue-leaved crowfoot, or water buttercup, is a plant species in the family Ranunculaceae native to temperate areas of Europe, Siberia and through to the western Himalayas. It is a semiaquatic plant that prefers to grow in about 40 cm (16 in) of water in a variety of wetland habitats. A cultivar called 'Grandiflorus', the large-flowered greater spearwort, has 6 cm flowers and is favored by gardeners.
Ranunculus allegheniensis is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Its common names include Allegheny Mountain buttercup and Allegheny crowfoot.
Ranunculus tripartitus is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, which grows in pools and muddy hollows in coastal parts of Europe, North Africa and West Asia. It is rare and endangered throughout its range, and is considered to be an indicator of favourable environmental conditions.
Oenanthe fluviatilis, the river water-dropwort, is a flowering plant in the carrot family, Apiaceae, which is endemic to north-west Europe. It grows only in clear, unpolluted rivers and is declining throughout its range.
Oenanthe lachenalii, parsley water-dropwort, is a flowering plant in the carrot family, which is native to Europe and parts of North Africa. It is a declining plant of coastal wetlands.
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