Ranunculus parviflorus L., Ranunculaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Risk assessment results:  Accept (based on second screen), score: 4 (Go to the risk assessment).

Common name(s): [more details]

English: smallflower buttercup, sticktight buttercup

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual herbs 1-3 dm tall; stems erect, not rooting at the nodes, pubescent with soft spreading hairs.  Basal leaves simple, reniform, 1.5-2 cm long, 2-2.5 cm wide, 3-parted and again lobed, pilose.  Flowers 1 to several in cymes; receptacle nearly cylindrical, 2-3 mm long at anthesis, 4-10 mm long in fruit; sepals yellowish green, narrowly ovate, ca. 1 mm long, spreading, caducous; petals 5, yellow, narrowly elliptic, 1-2 mm long, base with a truncate nectary scale.  Achenes 10-20  in a globose head, obovate, ca. 1.5 mm long, the faces covered by reddish brown papillae that are produced into minute slender hooks, margins strongly marked, beak deltoid, recurved, ca. 0.5 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1089).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "naturalized in fields and pastures, 910-1,830 m"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1089).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Europe (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1089).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 21) "A weed of gardens and similar cultivated or open ground". Vouchers cited: P.S. Green 1618 (A, K), A.C. Beauglehole 5537 (CANB, MEL, NSW), A.C. Beauglehole 5538 (MEL), J.D. McComish 110 (K)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 10) "A weed of gardens and similar cultivated or open ground". Vouchers cited: J.H. Maiden & J.L. Boorman s.n. (NSW), J.D. McComish 38A p.p. (NSW)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1089) Voucher cited: Forbes 275.H (BISH)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 120) Vouchers cited: Scchlechter 15018, MacKee 13335, MacKee 27561, Cherrier in MacKee 44656

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1022) "Waste land, tussock grassland and scrub, grassy ground under trees, gardens".

Control:  If you know of control methods for Ranunculus parviflorus, please let us know.