Sunday, May 13, 2012

Ranunculus bulbosus, Bulbous Buttercup

Three cheers for DenPro! On March 22 I posted this photo of a vegetative plant I didn't recognize, hoping someone would be able to name it. To me it looked like Artemisia, and there were a lot of suggestions in different families and genera. DenPro suggested some kind of Ranunculus, and today I discovered he was right!
Good call - it is Ranunculus bulbosus, not recorded from the 11,000 square mile Chicago Region since the days of Julius Nieuwland! Discovered in disturbed, gravelly clay waste ground at the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds, South Bend, Indiana. Note the white clover in the upper right corner for scale. This plant has not been mowed.
Finding something new is always fun, even if it's a weed. For the rest of the day's botanizing trip I was champing at the bit to get home to my books and microscope!

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." Eeyore

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