California Buttercup :

Ranunculus californicus
NATIVE

Description (Jepson, PlantID.net)

Eudicotyledon
- Eudicots are a major lineage of flowering plants; see family for general characteristics
Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae)
Summer-deciduous perennial herb
Leaves
- Basal and alternate (1 leaf at each junction with stem)
- Deeply-divided into 3 lobes with deeply toothed margins
- Upper leaves generally reduced
Flowers
- Loosely-branching inflorescence (flower arrangement)
- Each flower grows on a long leafless stem (a scape)
- 9-17 shiny/waxy yellow overlapping petals
- Nectary at petal base, with cuplike scale
- Numerous yellow stamens (male flower parts) and pistils (female flower parts)
- 5 sepals (usually green, outer flower parts) are folded back
- Ovary superior (above the attachment of other flower parts)
Height to 27 in.

Distribution

Native to California
- Grows in a wide variety of habitats including chaparral, grasslands, coastal bluffs, woodlands, and moist meadows
- See Calflora for statewide observations of this plant
Outside California, grows in Oregon south into Baja California, Mexico
Grows at elevations to 7,000 ft.

Uses (San Mateo County Parks prohibits removal of any natural material)

Native people collected the seeds for pinole (Anderson 2005)
- Pinole is a general term for various flours made from the ground, toasted seeds of wildflowers and grasses, eaten dry or moistened and shaped into balls or cakes
- Spanish word, from an Aztec word, pinolli
CAUTION – the ingestion of raw seeds, sap, flowers, or leaves results in moderate but non-life-threatening symptoms (e.g. nausea, vomiting)

Name Derivation

Ranunculus (ra-NUN-ku-lus) – from the Latin for “little frog,” referring to the genus growing in moist areas

Notes

Were you ever told that if you held a buttercup flower under your chin and it reflected yellow, you liked butter?
- The glossy-yellow petals of Ranunculus consist of 3 layers: a yellow pigment layer, an air layer, and a starch layer
- The layers produce a highly directional, reflective optical response—a flash—which may lure in pollinators (Vignolini 2011)

ID Tips

When not blooming, may be confused with royal larkspur (Delphinium variegatum), which has more deeply cut leaves than California buttercup

At Edgewood

Found in many habitats, including grasslands and woodlands
- See iNaturalist for observations of this plant
Flowers February – April

Specific References

Anderson, M.K. 2005. Tending the Wild. University of California, Berkeley.