Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae)

Perennial with branched stem, prostrate and creeping, up to 60 cm long. Leaves variably hairy: basal are long-stalked, formed from three-lobed leaflets (the upper one with a distinct stalk); stems with elongated, often undivided leaves, upper ones sessile. Golden-yellow flowers 2-3 cm in diameter, on hairy pedicels. Calyx segments downy, adhering loosely to corona formed from five petals. Numerous pistils arranged spirally, also many stamens. Flowers May-Sep.

Grows on fertile moist or mesic soils, in riparian or alder forests and on wet meadows. POISONOUS.

Descriptions devised by the team at the Independent Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, i.e. L. Witkowska-Żuk, K. Marciszewska, W. Ciurzycki, A. Obidziński and P. Zaniewski