Volume 11 > Part 1 > Year 2011 > Page 67 > Ranunculaceae > Ranunculus

2. Ranunculus chinensis Bunge

Enum. Pl. Chin. Bor. 3. 1833; Tamura, J. Phytogeogr. Taxon. 28: 15. 1980; Thai Forest Bull., Bot. 25: 78. 1997

Accepted Name : Ranunculus cantoniensis DC.
Prodr. 1: 43. 1824.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Annual or biennial herbs, 25–45 cm tall, without rhizomes. Stems erect, densely hispid, hairs spreading, sometimes reflexed in lower part, ascending in upper part. Leaves: Basal and lower cauline leaves ternate, middle leaflets 8.5–9 long including petiolules 2.5–3 mm, 3-sect or –partite, middle segments 3-fid to -lobate, lateral ones 2-partite to –fid, lateral leaflets 6.5–7.5 cm long including petiolules 5–10 mm, 2-sect to -fid, segments 2–4-fid, lobes cuneate, irregularly, coarsely incised-dentate, teeth lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, upper surface sparsely pilose with spreading, long hairs or glabrate, lower surface with long, spreading hairs especially on veins; petioles 10–13 cm long, hispid, with sheathing bases. Cauline leaves 3–4, similar to the basal, but smaller, simpler, shortly petiolate. Inflorescences loosely corymbiform, 7–17-flowered, pedicels 1–3 cm, hispid. Flowers nearly flat, 6–10 mm diam. Sepals 5, reflexed, narrowly ovate, round to obtuse at apex, 3–5 by 1.5–2 mm, green, upper surface glabrous, lower surface hispid. Petals 5, yellow, narrowly obovate, round at apex, 4–5 by 1.8–2 mm, upper surface glabrous, with a nectar flap, lower surface glabrous. Anthers elliptic, lateral, 1–2 mm long, connective not projected, filaments filiform, 1.5–3 mm long. Receptacles elliptic to elliptic-oblong, hispid, 3.5– 4 by 1.8–2 mm in flower; swollen, 8–13 by 2.5–3 mm infruit. Achenes many, in an ellipsoidal head, 12–15 by 6.5–8 mm; oblique obovate-elliptic, 2.5–3 by 0.8–2 mm, compressed, marginate along both, especially along the ventral sides, glabrous, beaks short, narrowly triangular, dilated at base.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Nakhon Phanom.

Distribution : Widely distributed in Himalayas, eastern Siberia, Myanmar, China (type), Indochina, Korea and Japan.

Ecology : In open, cultivated or waste places, river banks, up to ca 200 m alt. Flowering and fruiting: January–June. Recent collections have not been seen.

Vernacular : Klip thian khop khong (กลีบเทียนขอบโขง)(Northeastern).