Ranunculus californicus (California Buttercup)

4/30/05 Just past first cattle guard, Figueroa Mountain Recreation Area, Santa Lucia Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest, Santa Barbara County, CA

4/30/05 

4/30/05

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: California Buttercup

SPECIES: Ranunculus californicus

FAMILY: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 4/30/2005

LOCATION: Just past first cattle guard, Figueroa Mountain Recreation Area, Santa Lucia Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest, Santa Barbara County, CA

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Treatment from The Jepson Manual (1993):

Perennial (11)18–70 cm

Stem ± prostrate to erect, branched to not, ± glabrous to hairy

Leaves glabrous to hairy; basal and lower cauline petioles 3–20 cm, blades 1.5–8 cm, ovate, cordate, or round, generally 1-ternate (terminal leaflet deeply 3-lobed) to -pinnate, leaflets 3 or 5, generally wedge-shaped, toothed to deeply cut; upper cauline leaves very deeply lobed, lobes linear to oblong, toothed

Flower: receptacle generally glabrous; sepals 3.5–7 mm, hairs short, stiff; petals generally 7–22, 5–13 mm, 2–6 mm wide

Fruits 5+, cluster spheric to wide-ovoid; body generally 2–3 mm, sides 1.5–2.5 mm wide, ± smooth, glabrous or puberulent, back not keeled; beak generally 0.5–1 mm, generally curved

Ecology: Grassland, oak woodland, mixed-evergreen or coniferous forest

Elevation: < 2400 m.  

Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province 

Distribution outside California: s Oregon, Baja California

Synonyms: vars. austromontanus L.D. Benson, cuneatus Greene, gratus Jeps. and rugulosus (Greene) L.D. Benson  

Intergrades complexly with  R. canus ,  R. occidentalis 

Horticultural information: DRN: 4, 5, 6, 17 &part SHD: 7, 22, 23, 24 &IRR: 2, 3, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21; dry in summer.