Crowfoot Buttercup

Crowfoot Buttercup (Ranunculus) - Mountain, meadow, and marsh herbs, many of them weeds, while others are among the choicest of alpine flowers and perennials for borders. They are for the most part of the simplest culture; only R. asiaticus and its many varieties require special treatment.

Related Flowers

The below is but a selection from a very large family in nature, many of which are little known in gardens, and many of no garden interest.

Ranunculus Aconitifolius

Ranunculus Aconitifolius - A mountain pasture herb. The double-flowered variety which is known as Fair Maids of France is a pretty garden plant about 18 inches high, covered for several weeks in early summer with small rosette-like white blossoms. It is a charming plant in deep moist soils, especially the large-flowered forms.

Bachelors' Buttons

Bachelors Buttons (Ranunculus Acris) - The pretty double form of this plant is also a useful kind, its rich yellow blossoms borne in button-like rosettes: a border plant, and good in moist soil, flowering twice in the year.

Alpine Buttercup

Alpine Buttercup (Ranunculus Alpestris) - A native of the alpine regions of C. Europe, and found chiefly growing in calcareous soil: a handsome kind, forming small tufts of shining, dark-green, prettily cut leaves; flowers large pure white, with numerous yellow stamens in the centre, and borne singly on erect stems from 2 to 6 inches high in June and July. A good rock garden plant in light, porous, moist soil. There is a pretty dwarf form, hardly rising above the soil. R. pyrenaeus comes near this in effect, with large white flowers borne several together on stems of 6 inches, but the leaf is a different shape.

White Buttercup

White Buttercup (Ranunculus Amplexicaulis) - Lovely garden plant, about 1 foot high, with slender stems, glaucous-grey leaves, and blossoms 1 inch across, pure white with yellow centres, blooming in April and May: a pretty border and rock garden plant, doing best in a deep moist loam. Pyrenees and Alps of Provence.

Turban Buttercup

See Turban Buttercup=== Ranunculus Bulbosus Fl === Ranunculus Bulbosus Fl - L. is a showy plant, about 1 foot in height, with, in early summer, numerous double yellow blossoms, growing well in any soil. There is also a pretty pale yellow form.

Ranunculus Crenatus

Ranunculus Crenatus - A native of alpine and siliceous mountains in Styria, the leaves entire and roundish; the flowers are large, white, with almost entire petals, two or three together at the extremity of stems 3 or 4 inches high in April and May. Plant in the rock garden in deep sandy soil in England, fully exposed to the sun.

Glacier Buttercup

Glacier Buttercup (Ranunculus Glacialis) - This is the plant of the icy regions, being found near to the melting snow on the loftiest mountains. The thick, fleshy leaves of a dark green and deeply incised, the stem of a brown-red tint, 3 or 4 inches long, prostrate on the ground, and bearing from one to four flowers, the petals of which are at first of a light pink color, passing into a bright coppery-red. Everthing about this plant has a glacial aspect. It thrives on cool and moist but fully exposed ledges of the rock garden, in deep gritty soil with white stones or sand on the surface to keep it cool. Alps and Pyrenees.

Ranunculus Gramineus

Ranunculus Gramineus - A pretty little plant from the Pyrenees, with slender, erect stems of about a foot high and narrow grass-like leaves of a blue-grey color. Its golden flowers are produced in great profusion during early summer. A useful plant for the border or moist corner of the rock garden, and also quite happy if treated as a bog-plant.

Great Spearwort

Great Spearwort (Ranunculus Lingua) - A native kind and a noble waterside plant, its leaves rising boldly out of the water to a height of 2 or 3 feet, with large yellow and attractive flowers. Thrives in muddy watersides, and the numerous and handsome flowers are good for cutting for the house.

Rockwood Lily

Rockwood Lily (Ranunculus Lyalli) - A lovely New Zealand plant; in moist places in the Southern Alps the plant has large rounded leaves and very large handsome waxy white flowers, not unlike those of Anemone japonica, with delicate yellow stamens in the centre. In some places in Britain this plant is not hardy, but in others it stands the winter well, but is difficult to cultivate in our climate.

Montpelier Buttercup

Montpelier Buttercup (Ranunculus Monspeliacus) - A vigorous plant, growing about 18 inches high, with three-lobed wooly leaves and large flowers like the Common Buttercup.

Parnassia-leaved Buttercup

Parnassia-leaved Buttercup (Ranunculus Parnassifolius) - A singular-looking plant with thick, entire leaves, woolly on the edges, flowers large, of a pure white color, borne two or three together on a prostrate stem in the month of May. In the Pyrenees and on the French Alps it is rare to find a flower of this handsome species which possesses the full number of petals.

Rue-leaved Buttercup

Rue-leaved Buttercup (Ranunculus Rutaefolius) - Rue-like leaves and white flowers with dark-yellow centres. Coming from the highest parts of the Alps, it requires the same treatment as the higher alpine plants, in a fully-exposed spot in moist soil with plenty of grit in it.

Large Double Buttercup

Large Double Buttercup (Ranunculus Speciosus) - A showy plant, with compact rosette-like flowers of bright yellow in May, succeeding in any light soil. In a full collection, R. charophyllus, illyricus, and famiariafolius may be included.