Buttercup Plants

Ornamental Ranunculus

• Many of the more than 20 species in the Ranunculus genus bear the common name buttercup. Ranunculus species range from wildflowers to perennial bulbs to invasive weeds. Annual and perennial wildflowers include Carolina buttercup (R. carolinianus), a 30-foot-tall plant that blooms from spring through early summer with bright-yellow blossoms. It has dark tri-part foliage and hairy stalks and grows naturally in damp sites. Ornamental species include the Persian buttercup, a Ranunculus hybrid that grows to 1 foot tall and produces yellow, red, orange, white and pink flowers in mid-spring. This bulb plant grows best in sunny, moist sites.

Ranunculus Weeds

• Weedy buttercups include the tall buttercup (R. acris), a 42-inch-tall plant with hairy three- to five-lobed foliage. It produces yellow to white, glossy, inch-long flowers. Creeping buttercup (R. repens) grows across the northern U.S. and has tri-part dark foliage. This prostrate plant blooms with bright yellow flowers atop hairy 10-inch-tall stalks. Other weeds include the bur or curvseed buttercup (R. testiculatus), a 3-inch-tall annual that blooms with tiny yellow flowers in spring. It grows in thick mats and is very toxic.

Caltha

• Plants in the Caltha genus, part of the buttercup family, produce flowers that resemble Ranunculus. Species include the marsh marigold (C. palustris), a perennial that grows to 2 feet tall and blooms with five-to-six petaled bright yellow flowers in spring and summer. It has 6-inch, heart-shaped leaves with toothed edges. The floating marsh marigold (C. natans) is an aquatic plant that lives in cool ponds and streams. It blooms with white-pink flowers in midsummer.

Clematis

• Plants in the Clematis genus are members of the buttercup family. This group of climbing vines includes the virgin’s bower (C. montana), a deciduous vine that grows to 30 feet long. It blooms from late spring to early summer and comes in a range of cultivars, from the white Alba to the red Freda and the pink Mayleen. The native leatherflower (C. viorma) climbs to 6 feet tall and produces hanging, bell-shaped flowers. It grows as an annual. The scarlet clematis (C. texensis) grows quickly to 10 feet long and produces red and purple bell-shaped flowers. It has dense gray-green foliage.

Other Buttercup Plants

• A few other plants have the common name buttercup, but they are not members of the Ranunculaceae family. These include the buttercup winterhazel (Corylopsis pauciflora), a 6-foot-tall deciduous shrub. It is named after the pendulous clusters of aromatic, bright yellow flowers that it produces starting in late winter. Other species include the Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae), a South African native that grows both as an ornamental plant and as a weed. A perennial, this buttercup blooms in early spring with bright yellow blossoms atop a 6- to 12-inch-tall stalk. It grows from bulbs and has purple-spotted heart-shaped foliage.