Buttercup

The buttercups are a kind of herbaceous, annual or long-lived plants, of the family of the Renonculacée S which gathers nearly 1.500 species throughout the world. They have a very different port and are generally herbaceous plants long-lived species. With the tropical latitudes they are rather plants of altitude.

Its name derived from Latin “ rana ” means small frog , because some of its varieties, watery, push in the populated marshes of many batrachians.

Other names: grenouillette , flower of impatience , gobet of the devil because of its toxic properties. The Germans call it “ Butterblume ”, i.e. “ flower of butter ”, because when one places it on the skin, this one produced a yellow reflection which evokes the color of butter.

The name of button of gold is usually given to several species of buttercups with yellow flowers ( R. acris , R. bulbosus , R. gramineus , R. repens …).

Description

Herbaceous plant with flowers simple in form of cut, made of 5 Petal S, tightened and brilliant, with the bright colors, yellows or white, very seldom, reds.

Their sheets, to generally webbed and very cut out veins, cling to the base of a long stem which carries, at its end, one or more flowers. Most frequently made up, they have a rough savor which had with the various toxic active ingredients which they contain

Their fruit is a Akène or a follicule, sometimes a bay, a drupe or a capsule.

Watery buttercups ( Ranunculus aquatilis , Ranunculus peltatus …) form a group with share. They are plants with white flowers, with immersed sheets divided into round thin straps and emerged sheets. They push in the ponds and the rivers.

History

The buttercups of the florists are originating in Asia. The Ranunculus asiaticus was introduced in France by the crusaders of Saint Louis who discovered it in Holy Land.

Principal European species

(Nonexhaustive List)

Ranunculus abortivus - Buttercup abortive
Ranunculus aconitifolius - Buttercup with sheets of aconite
Ranunculus acris - bitter Buttercup gold or “Button”
Ranunculus alismaefolius - Buttercup with sheets of alism, species in the process of disappearance
Ranunculus allenii - Buttercup of Allen
Ranunculus alpestris - Alpine Buttercup
Ranunculus aquatilis - watery Buttercup
Ranunculus arvensis - Buttercup of the fields
Ranunculus asiaticus - Buttercup florists
Ranunculus auricomus - Buttercup head of gold
Ranunculus baudotii - Buttercup of Baudot, one meets it in the halophilous mediums
Ranunculus bulbosus - Renoncule bulbous
Ranunculus cymbalaria - Renoncule cymbalaire
Ranunculus ficaria - Ficaire or “distorts buttercup”, commun run in forest
Ranunculus flabellaris - Renoncule with whip
Ranunculus flammula - Renoncule Small flame or “Small Ditch” or “Small Flame”
Ranunculus fluitans - Buttercup of the rivers, watery
Ranunculus gmelini - Buttercup of Gmelin
Ranunculus glacialis - Buttercup of the glaciers or “Caraline”, flower of the Alps
Ranunculus gramineus - Buttercup with graminaceous sheets
Ranunculus hispidus
Ranunculus hyperboreus - Buttercup hyperborean
Ranunculus kuepferi - Buttercup of Küpfer
Ranunculus lapponicus - Buttercup of Lapland
Ranunculus lingua
Ranunculus longirostris
Ranunculus macounii
Ranunculus montanus - Buttercup of the mountains
Ranunculus nivalis - Buttercup of snows
Ranunculus pallasii
Ranunculus pedatifidus
Ranunculus peltatus - Buttercup peltate, watery
Ranunculus platanifolius - Buttercup with sheets of plane tree, flower of the Alps and the forests of Alder
Ranunculus pygmaeus - Buttercup Pygmy
Ranunculus pyrenaeus - Buttercup of the Pyrenees
Ranunculus recurvatus - Buttercup bent
Ranunculus repens - Buttercup crawling gold or “Button” or “Foot of hen”, hardy perennial, spindly, of the wet places.
Ranunculus sceleratus - Buttercup scélérate
Ranunculus seguieri - Buttercup of Séguier, flower of the Alps
Ranunculus sulphureus - Buttercup sulphureuse
Ranunculus trichophyllus - capillary or “Buttercup with capillary sheets”, watery Buttercup.

Culture

The buttercups push in the moderate or cold areas. One can quote the gold button, the buttercup of Asia, and many the buttercups of mountain and the cold zones.

The buttercup appreciates the light and rich ground and a semi-shaded place, for a flowering in June.

Use

for the food

The young seedlings contain many Vitamine C, one can consume them out of salad. Thereafter they become bitter and toxic.

for health

The buttercup contains bitter active ingredients, whose ingestion causes a feeling of burn in the throat, then nauseas and a violent ignition of the intestine. It is about the ranunculoside (lactone heteroside) which by hydrolysis releases from the protoanémonine, extremely blistering.

Once dried, the plant is less toxic (in any case for the cattle). This is why, its presence in the quite dry hay, although not advised, is not too dangerous.

Others

Because of its beautiful colors, the buttercup evokes the luxury and it became the emblem of the refined toilet.

In the Langage of the flowers the buttercup means: “ You are radiant and charming ”, “ You are dazzling ”, “ You are brilliant and attractive ”, which can go until “ Your body is splendid ”.

References

ITIS 18558

Simple: Buttercup

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