Flora of New Zealand Series

creeping buttercup

Perennial; roots all fibrous. Stems stoloniferous, ± slender, arising from compact rootstock, arcuately decumbent and rooting at nodes, hairy, 30-60-(100) cm long. Lvs with sparse to dense hairs, 3-foliolate, at least the middle segment stipitate; basal lvs ovate-deltoid, 2-4-(7) × 2-5-(8) cm; leaflets deltoid, 3-lobed, dentate; petioles glabrous to hairy, (2)-5-15-(25) cm long. Upper cauline lvs similar to basal; leaflets becoming linear-lanceolate, entire. Fls 1-3-(10) per stem, (15)-20-25-(30) mm diam. Pedicels erect, with appressed hairs, sulcate, 3-10-(20) cm long. Sepals 5, hairy, spreading, 6-8 mm long. Petals 5, yellow, obovate, (9)-10-12 × 7-9 mm; nectary single, 0.5 mm from petal base, covered by a broad, obtuse or emarginate scale. Receptacle hairy. Achenes 20-40, glabrous, strongly flattened, bordered, broadly obovate; body 2-3 × 2-2.5 mm; face smooth; beak hooked at tip, 1-1.5 mm long.

N.; S.: throughout; St.; Ch.; C.; A.

Europe, N. Africa, S.W. Asia 1869

Wet ground, waste places, pasture, ditches, roadsides, river banks, gardens.

FL Oct-Feb-(Sep) FT (Oct)-Nov-Jan-(Apr).

Possibly poisonous (Connor 1977).

Double-flowered forms, presumably of cultivated origin, have occasionally been collected from the wild in N.Z.