Ranunculus occidentalis

Ranunculus occidentalis
R. occidentalis in Anacortes, Washington
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Genus: Ranunculus
Species: R. occidentalis
Binomial name
Ranunculus occidentalis
Nutt.

Ranunculus occidentalis, the western buttercup,[1] is a species of buttercup found in the western United States and Canada. Its distribution extends from Alaska through British Columbia and Alberta to central California.[1] The flower can be seen in open meadows, forests, and other generally flat areas up to an elevation of 2,200 metres (7,200 ft).[2]

Aleut Indians may have used juice from the plant as a poison,[3] its toxicity arising from the substance protoanemonin.[4] Shasta Indians coincided blooming Ranunculus occidentalis with salmon runs in the summer.[5] The seeds were used to make pinole, a staple food.[6]

This plant is similar to, and sometimes difficult to distinguish from, the California buttercup (Ranunculus californicus).

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References

  1. 1 2 "Ranunculus occidentalis". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Jepson Manual Treatment for Ranunculus occidentalis". University of California Berkeley Jepson Treaments. Retrieved 2009-06-05. External link in |publisher= (help)
  3. ↑ Flora of North America
  4. ↑ Bank, Theodore (1953). "Botanical and ethnobotanical studies in the Aleutian Islands - Health and Medical Lore ...". Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters: 428.
  5. ↑ Holt, Catharine (1946). "Shasta Ethnography". University of California, Berkeley: 310.
  6. ↑ Ethnobotany
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