Pennsylvania Buttercup

Ojibwa tribes used Ranunculus pensylvanicus as a hunting medicine; the Potawatomi used it as an astringent for miscellaneous diseases (D. E. Moerman 1986).

Stems erect, never rooting nodally, hispid, base not bulbous. Roots never tuberous. Basal leaf blades broadly cordate in outline, 3-foliolate, 1.6-7 × 3-9 cm, leaflets cleft, usually deeply so, ultimate segments narrowly elliptic, margins toothed, apex acute. Flowers: receptacle hirsute; sepals reflexed ca. 1 mm above base, 3-5 × 1.5-2 mm, ± hispid; petals 5, yellow, 2-4 × 1-2.5 mm. Heads of achenes cylindric, 9-12 × 5-7 mm; achenes 1.8-2.8 × 1.6-2 mm, glabrous, margin forming narrow rib 0.1-0.2 mm wide; beak persistent, broadly lanceolate or nearly deltate, straight or nearly so, 0.6-0.8 mm. 2 n = 16.

Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Alaska, Ariz., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Vt., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.

Flowering late spring-summer (Jun-Aug).

Stream banks, bogs, moist clearings, depressions in woodlands; 0-1700m.

Ranunculus pensylvanicus is a flowering plant species in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Common names include bristly buttercup, bristly crowfoot and Pennsylvania buttercup. It is native to North America with a distribution over the northern part of the continent.