RANUNCULUS BULLATUS
Family and Genus:- See- RANUNCULACEAE/Subgen. RANUNCULUS/Sect.
Common Names:- Autumn buttercup
Homotypic Synonyms:- Ranunculus bullatus ssp. cytheraeus
Meaning:- Ranunculus (L) Little-frog, diminutive of rana, (reference to water-loving
habit of many species).
Bullatus (L) Puckered,blistered,with knobbles.
General description:- Small perennial with a dense cluster of fusiform root tu-
bers mixed with thin fibrous roots.
Scapes:
1) 1-3(-8) from each rosette, 3-7( -12) cm long, erect, slender, arachnoid-pilose,
1-or rarely 2-flowered.
Leaves:-
1) 3-7, all in a basal, ± appressed rosette,
a) lamina, 2-6 cm long, ovate to obovate, cuneate, at the base, obtuse to
subacute, crenate-serrate in the lower 3/4, leaf surface bullate, pilose.
2) Petiole, short, flat or canaliculate.
Flowers:-
1) Violet-scented.
2) Pedicels, 5-25 cm.
3) Sepals, 5, spreading, ovate, greenish, pilose towards the apex.
4) Petals, 5-6(-10), c. twice as long as the sepals, 7-14 x 4-8 mm, obovate, yellow.
5) Receptacle, elongated, glabrous.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes numerous, c. 1.2 mm, obliquely ovoid, appearing inflated, not or
scarcely compressed, smooth and glabrous, long remaining green.
a) beak, short, curved.
b) head of the achenes, c. 5 x 4 mm, broadly ovoid, dense.
Key features:-
1) Stem, 1- or rarely 2-flowered.
2) Leaves, 3-7, all in a basal rosette.
3) Lamina, 2-6 cm long, ovate to obovate, cuneate at the base, obtuse to subacute,
crenate-serrate in lower 3/4, bullate, pilose.
4) Petals, 5-6(-10).
5) Achenes, numerous, c.1.2 mm, obliquely ovoid, appearing inflated.
6) Autumn flowering.
Habitat:- Meadow-like patches on rocky limestone slopes and flats. 0-500(900) m.
local, but sometimes gregarious.
Distribution:- Mostly along the South Aegean island arc. Scattered in the
Mediterranean area from Portugal, Spain and Morocco to Cyrenaica, the Aegean
islands, W Turkey and Cyprus. Widespread and common on Crete.
Flowering time:- Mid-Oct to Dec.
Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
