Pacific Northwest Plants

Ranunculus Repens

Plate 354

Plate 355 Plate 356

Ranunculus Repens: Creeping Buttercup

This lovely looking buttercup is a perennial that likes to grow in moist, disturbed sites such as; fields pastures, gardens, lawns, ditches, and clearings and is common in low elevations. I found this group of plants along the causeway through Stanley Park at roadside.

This variety of Ranunculaceae has chemicals in all parts of the plant, that, while un-dried, can cause severe blistering of the skin, or inflammation of tissues of mouth, throat and digestive tract when swallowed.

Keep away from children.

Ranunculus Repens is harmless when dried, because the active chemical is volatile and evaporates when cured. The compound is protoanemonin.