Some are finely divided and others, as in the case of the basal leaves, can be rounded or kidney shaped. They range from entire to many types of lobbing. The leaves are variable even within a specific species 1. Buttercup plant ( Photo Credit: Adrienna Held) This ‘beak’ is often an identifying character of the species in question it can be an indiscreet bump to a curled hook.įigure 2. The seeds are an achene that always have a notch or described as a beak in Britton and Brown’s “An Illustrated Flora of The Northern United States” (Figure 2). The fruit of the Ranunculus resembles a raspberry-looking structure (Figure 2).

These cones in the middle of the flower will eventually become the fruit of the plant. The many female components of the flower are born on a cone like structure in the center and the many male components surround the cone. One characteristic of the flowers that is consistent is that there are many reproductive structures within a flower. In some species the petals are waxy in appearance. However, in Indiana they are most often bright to light yellow. In some cases that would be correct, but buttercup flowers can have a variable number of petals within the same species and some flowers can be white or pink. Typically when thinking of buttercups many think of single yellow flowers with five petals. Ranunculus species that have the name ‘buttercup’ associated with them in Indiana.įigure 1. However, other buttercup species can be found in the Western US and Canada, and in the Southern US. In Indiana, there are approximately 16 species in this group of plants called the buttercups (Table 1). Plants in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), are also called the crowfoot family. The word ‘buttercup’ is a common name that is associated with a fairly large group of plants, which are predominantly in the genus Ranunculus spp. In winter wheat, Osprey (mesosulfuron), Olympus (propoxycarbazone-sodium), and Harmony Extra (thifensulfuron + tribenuron) provide excellent control of smallflower buttercup. Control of buttercups with dicamba products has been more variable, but can range from fair to excellent. In grass pastures, Cimarron (metsulfuron), 2,4-D, and Crossbow (2,4-D + triclopyr) will provide good to excellent control of most buttercups. However, triazines alone have not controlled all buttercups. Fall or early spring applications of glyphosate + 2,4-D Autumn (iodosulfuron) Princep (simazine) + 2,4-D and Canopy XL (sulfentrazone + chlorimuron) + 2,4-D have provided excellent control of smallflower buttercup (90 to 100% control). These plants can be problematic in no-till crops, gardens, pastures, wheat, and waste areas.

In the most frequently encountered buttercups, the flowers are yellow. The buttercups are toxic plants and can cause poisoning in grazing animals however, buttercups are reported not to be toxic in hay. There are several buttercup species found in Indiana.

Yellow buttercups