Bulbous Buttercup

Ranunculus bulbosus



 A little yellow buttercup
Stood laughing in the sun;
The grass all green around it
The summer just begun:
Anon 
1. Bulbous buttercups seem to glow like lanterns in the early morning sun.

 A previous blogpost gave a simple key for separating out the three most common species of Buttercup; bulbous buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus), meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris) and creeping buttercup (Ranuculus repens).  You can find it here. 
The bulbous buttercup is the first to get going and has a short flowering season after which meadow and creeping buttercup predominate. For that reason, if you want to see bulbous buttercup you need to get out soon. 
Buttercups belong to genus Ranunculus which is part of the Ranunculaceae family. The Ranunculaceae family is phylogenetically old  in the sense that it diverged from the main stem in the far distant past and in some respects, the buttercup flowers can be considered 'primitive' (this does not mean simple). What this means, in this case, is that there has been no fusion of flower parts into single composite structures so that there are five unfused petals that are radially arranged and numerous stamens that form a concentric ring around the unfused carpals. It should be noted that some other members of Ranunculacea do have fused flower parts such as Monks-hood, Aconitum napellus and Columbine, Aquilegia vulgaris.
The open radial flower structure makes life easy for a wide range of pollinators. There is a landing platform, the petals are shiny with no hairs to get in the way, and insects have to brush past pollen-bearing stamens to reach the nectar. Compare this with some of the more complex tubular flowers, Deadnettles or Orchids for example that require more specialist couriers to transport their pollen. Even though this open arrangement of flower parts may make life easier for pollinators, if you look at the flower in the photograph below, you can see that some insect has cheated the buttercup by boring a hole through the petal to reach the nectar. In doing so, it has bypassed the need to pick up and spread pollen. The advantage to insect may be that it can get access to the nectaries before the flower has opened in the early morning sun. Bulbous buttercup may be particularly vulnerable to this form of theft because of its reflexed sepals that allow a boring insect unobstructed access to the base of the petals underneath which lie the nectaries.
Moving down to the stem you can feel that it is slightly ridged; something that is sometimes easier felt than seen. The leaves have three lobes and the terminal lobe is usually on a short stalk - see picture below.
If you run your fingers down the stem to where it goes into the ground you can just feel the bulb from which the flower derives its current name and the old name of St Anthony's turnip. The underground bulb enables the plant to start growing and flower so early because it has food stored in its bulbous root and doesn't need to wait for longer daylight hours and warmer temperatures to bring its flowers into action.

2. Bulbous buttercup flower. From outside in - 5 separate glossy petals, a ring of multiple stamens,
 at the centre multiple carpals. A small hole in petal on the upper left was made by 'cheating'
insect extracting nectar without waiting for the flower to open.


3. Bulbous buttercup (ranunculus bulbosus) showing reflexed sepals.

4. Deeply cut and three lobed leaf on a bulbous Buttercup

Where to find bulbous buttercup

There is little point in singling out any particular location because bulbous buttercup can be found almost everywhere in the park. Perhaps the highest density is in the flower beds adjoining Richardson Road - see map below.





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