RANUNCULUS PELTATUS subsp. SANICULIFOLIUS
Common Names:- Pond water crowfoot
Homotypic Synonyms:- R. peltatus ssp. fucoides
Meaning:- Ranunculus (L) Little-frog, diminutive of rana, (reference to the water-
loving habit of many species).
Peltatus (Gr) Leaf stalk attached to the surface not the edge.
Saniculifolius (L) With leaves resembling a member of the Sanicula
genus (Umbelliferae).
General description:- Annual.
Stem:-
1 Up to 1 m, occasionally more, moderately branched.
Leaves:-
1) Laminar, reniform-suborbicur, 3- to 5-lobed, divided to the middle or often further,
16-45 mm broad, pubescent or glabrous beneath.
a) basal sinus, varying;
b) lobes, crenate.
2) Dissected, few, only in the lower nodes;
a) lamina, globose to obconical, 20-50 mm long, segments thin, flaccid or
subrigid.
b) petiole, short, 2-5 mm, often equalling stipules.
3) Intermediate, sometimes occurring, the combination of capillary and flattened
segments irregular.
4) Stipules, oblong to suborbicular, free from the petiole for half their length,
sparsely hairy.
5) Pedicels, 40-80 mm in fruit, often decumbent.
Flowers:-
1) Pedicels, 40-80 mm in fruit, often decumbent.
2) Sepals, 2.33.2(-5.0) mm, blue- or violet-tipped.
3) Petals 6-11 mm, broadly obovate, ending in a round end, centre retuse or ±
crenate at the apex, margin usually undulate.
4) Nectaries, mainly hippocrepiform.
with transitions from lunate to pyriform.
5) Receptacle, elongate, globose or intermediate.
6) Stamens, 8-16;
a) anthers, 0.7-0.9(-1.3) mm.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes, 20-40(-60), 1.5-2.4 mm, glabrous, sometimes shiny, or sparsely hairy,
unwinged or "petiolate", i.e., narrowing basally with a tendency to form a ventral
wing.
Key features:-
1) Nectaries, mainly hippocrepiform
2) Anthers, less than 1 mm long.
3) Intermediate leaves, sometimes occurring,
4) Dissected leaves, few.
5) Laminar leaves, reniform-suborbicur, 3- to 5-lobed, divided to the middle or often
further,
6) Petals, 6-11 mm, broadly obovate,
Habitat:- Fresh or brackish aquatic habitats, slow-flowing streams, ponds and
ditches, rock-pools or winter-wet depressions in pastures. 0-1200 m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. - Most of W & C Europe, coastal
regions of N Africa, rare in Anatolia. Rare on Crete, known only from a few scattered
locations.
Flowering time:- (Mar-)Apr-June.
Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis