Ranunculus sceleratus L.

Cursed crowfoot (en), Renoncule scélérate (fr), Renoncule à feuilles de céleri (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Ranunculales > Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus

Characteristics

Herbs annual. Roots fibrous, subequally thick. Stems 10--75 cm, glabrous or sparsely puberulent, branched above. Basal leaves 5--13; petiole 1.2--15 cm, subglabrous or sparsely pubescent; blade 3-partite, pentagonal, reniform, or broadly ovate, or broadly ovate, 1--4 × 1.5--5 cm, papery or herbaceous, glabrous or abaxially puberulent, base broadly cordate, central lobe cuneate or rhombic, 3-lobed, lobules 1-or 2-denticulate or entire; lateral lobes obliquely broadly obovate or obliquely cuneate, unequally 2-lobed or 2-cleft to middle. Lower stem leaves similar to basal ones; upper stem leaves short petiolate, cuneate at base, 3-sect, segments oblanceolate. Compound monochasi um terminal, corymbose; bracts leaflike. Flowers 0.4--0.8 cm in diam. Pedicel 0.5--1.5 cm, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. Reeptacle puberulent or glabrous. Sepals 5, ovate-elliptic, 2--3 mm, abaxially appressed puberulent or glabrous. Petals 5, obovate, 2.2--4.5 × 1.4--2.4 mm, nectary pit without a scale, apex rounded. Stamens 10--19; anthers ellipsoid. Aggregate fruit cylindric, 3--11 × 1.5--4 mm; carpels numerous. Achene slightly bilaterally compressed, obliquely obovoid, 1--1.1 × 0.8--1 mm, glabrous, sometimes transversely 2-or 3-rugose, somewhat turgid along sutures; stigmas persistent, ca. 0.1 mm. Fl. Jan--Jul.
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Annual; roots all fibrous. Stems stout, erect, glabrous or with sparse appressed hairs, (10)-30-60-(75) cm tall. Basal and lower cauline lvs broadly ovate to reniform, cordate, deeply 3-(5)-lobed, glabrous or with fine appressed hairs, (1)-3-5-(8) × (1.5)-4-6-(10) cm; lobes obovate-cuneate, again shallowly 3-lobed and with crenate margins; petioles glabrous, (2)-5-10-(30) cm long. Upper cauline lvs similar; lobes becoming lanceolate, entire; uppermost lvs subsessile, not lobed, becoming finely appressed-hairy. Fls usually > 30 per stem, 6-10 mm diam. Pedicels erect, numerous, with sparse, fine hairs, sulcate, 2.5-4-(6) cm long at fruiting. Sepals 5, hairy, deflexed, acute, 3-4 mm long. Petals 5, pale yellow, broadly obovate, 3-4 × 2.5 mm; nectary single, 0.5 mm from petal base, pocket-like. Receptacle elongated, cylindric, hairy. Achenes (100)-200-400-(700), in cylindric heads, glabrous, hardly flattened, weakly keeled, obovoid, weakly rugulose; body c. 1 × 0.8 mm; beak < 0.5 mm long.
Stems erect, 2–6 dm, stout, hollow, glabrous, branched above and many-fld; basal and lower cauline lvs reniform, deeply 3-parted, the segments again cleft or lobed; upper lvs much smaller, commonly of 3 linear-oblong segments; pet 2–3 mm, shorter than the sep; achenes very numerous in a short-cylindric head, turgid, 0.8–1.2 mm, marginless, and very nearly beakless; 2n=32. Marshes, ditchbanks, and swampy meadows; circumboreal, in Amer. s. to Va., Mo., N.M., and Calif. Apr.–Aug. Our common phase, with minute, irregular transverse ridges on the central part of each face of the achene, is the widespread var. sceleratus. The chiefly western Amer. var. multifidus Nutt., with the basal lvs usually deeply twice cleft, and with the achene-surfaces smooth except for a circle of minute pin-prick depressions on each face, extends e. to Minn. and Io.
Stems erect, glabrous, rooting at base, only very rarely rooting at proximal nodes. Leaves basal and cauline, basal and proximal cauline leaf blades reniform to semicircular in outline, 3-lobed or-parted, 1-5 × 1.6-6.8 cm, base truncate to cordate, segments usually again lobed or parted, sometimes undivided, margins crenate or crenate-lobulate, apex rounded or occasionally obtuse. Flowers: receptacle pubescent or glabrous; sepals 3-5, reflexed from or near base, 2-5 × 1-3 mm, glabrous or sparsely hirsute; petals 3-5, 2-5 × 1-3 mm; nectary on petal surface, scale poorly developed and forming crescent-shaped or circular ridge surrounding but not covering nectary; style absent. Heads of achenes ellipsoid or cylindric heads, 5-13 × 3-7 mm; achenes 1-1.2 × 0.8-1 mm, glabrous; beak deltate, usually straight, 0.1 mm.
An annual herb. It is 20-70 cm high. The leaves vary in shape. The leaves near the base are stalked. They are 1.5-3 cm long by 2.5-4 cm wide. They are kidney shaped and with 3 lobes. The upper leaves are narrowly sword shaped with 3 lobes. The flowers are yellow. The fruit is dry, one seeded and in an oblong head.
Pending.
Life form annual
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination
Spread hydrochory
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.6
Root system fibrous-root
Rooting depth (meter) 0.2
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It is a temperate plant. It grows in wet and marshy places. In Nepal it grows to about 2500 m altitude. Tasmania Herbarium.
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In and by slow streams, ditches and shallow ponds of mineral rich water and muddy bottoms, avoiding acid soils.
Light 4-7
Soil humidity 6-10
Soil texture 1-4
Soil acidity 2-8
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 4-9

Usage

CAUTION: Leaves are acrid and poisonous unless treated. Young tender leaves are boiled then later cooked as a vegetable. The cooking water is changed. It can also be dried then cooked and eaten. They are pickled. It can be used as a fermented and dried green vegetable. The rootstock is boiled with rice and eaten.
Uses medicinal poison
Edible leaves roots
Therapeutic use Insecticides (aerial part), Poison (flower), Skin diseases (leaf), Urinary bladder calculi (leaf), Wounds and injuries (leaf), Galactogogues (stem), Menstruation-inducing agents (stem), Emmenagogue (unspecified), Poison (unspecified), Vesicant (unspecified), Lactogogue (unspecified), Galactogogues (unspecified), Menstruation-inducing agents (unspecified), Anti-poisoning (unspecified), Counterirritant (whole plant), Anti-poisoning (whole plant), Urinary bladder calculi (whole plant)
Human toxicity strong toxic (whole)
Animal toxicity strong toxic (whole)

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seeds or from root offshoots.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) 30 - 68
Germination temperacture (C°) 16
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Ranunculus sceleratus habit picture by Fero Looxi (cc-by-sa)
Ranunculus sceleratus habit picture by odile maury (cc-by-sa)
Ranunculus sceleratus habit picture by David Laloi (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Ranunculus sceleratus leaf picture by Tom Spruit (cc-by-sa)
Ranunculus sceleratus leaf picture by Jan Löser (cc-by-sa)
Ranunculus sceleratus leaf picture by Francesco Lupus (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Ranunculus sceleratus flower picture by Wim Huysmans (cc-by-sa)
Ranunculus sceleratus flower picture by Wendlandt Leopold (cc-by-sa)
Ranunculus sceleratus flower picture by Tom Spruit (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Ranunculus sceleratus fruit picture by Régis KRIEG-JACQUIER (cc-by-sa)
Ranunculus sceleratus fruit picture by odile maury (cc-by-sa)
Ranunculus sceleratus fruit picture by David Laloi (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Ranunculus sceleratus world distribution map, present in Australia, Canada, China, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, and United States of America

Conservation status

Ranunculus sceleratus threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:713776-1
WFO ID wfo-0000463300
COL ID 4RHPH
BDTFX ID 55392
INPN ID 139802
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Ranunculus apiophyllus Ranunculus sceleratus Adonis palustris Ranunculus carnosus Ranunculus umbellatus Batrachium sceleratum Ranunculus holophyllus Hecatonia palustris Hecatonia scelerata Ranunculus oryzetorum Ranunculus sceleratus f. sceleratus Ranunculus indicus Ranunculus sceleratus var. sceleratus Ranunculus sceleratus var. sinensis Ranunculus eremogenes var. longissimus Ranunculus sceleratus var. longissimus

Lower taxons

Ranunculus sceleratus subsp. reptabundus Ranunculus sceleratus var. multifidus