Buttercup family
| Ranunculaceae Temporal range: 145–0 Ma Early Cretaceous–Recent |
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| Ranunculus auricomus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Ranunculales |
| Family: |
Ranunculaceae Juss. |
| Type genus | |
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Ranunculus L. |
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| Subfamilies | |
Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin rānunculus "little frog", from rāna "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide.
The largest genera are Ranunculus (600 species), Delphinium (365), Thalictrum (330), Clematis (325), and Aconitum (300).
Ranunculaceae are mostly herbaceous annuals or perennials, but some woody climbers (such as Clematis) or shrubs (e.g. Xanthorhiza).
Most members of the family have bisexual flowers which can be showy or inconspicuous. Flowers may be solitary, but are frequently found aggregated in cymes, panicles, or spikes. The flowers are usually radially symmetrical but are strongly bilaterally symmetrical in the genera Aconitum and Delphinium. The sepals, petals, stamens and carpels are all generally free (unfused), the outer flower segments typically number four or five. The outer stamens may be modified to produce only nectar, as in Helleborus and Delphinium. In some genera, such as Thalictrum the sepals are colorful and appear petal-like and the petals can be inconspicuous or absent. The stems are unarmed. The leaves are variable. Most species have both basal and cauline (stem) leaves, which are usually compound or lobed but can be simple. They are typically alternate, or occasionally opposite or even whorled. Many species, especially the perennials form rhizomes that develop new roots each year.Ficaria verna can reproduce vegetatively by means of root tubers produced in the leaf axils.
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Wikipedia