Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus Repens)

Features and Characteristics

Ranunculus repens, commonly known as creeping buttercup, is a weedy, stoloniferous perennial that typically rises to 8-12″ tall, but spreads to 36″ wide or more by prostrate stems that root in the ground at the nodes. It will form a dense ground cover in moist areas. Foliage and flowers are ornamentally attractive. Native to Europe and Asia, this plant has over time naturalized in temperate regions throughout the world. It has spread throughout most of the U.S. and Canada, commonly naturalizing into fields, roadsides, waste areas and lawns. Compound, shiny, dark green leaves are tri-foliate with toothed, stiff-bristled, obovate to elliptic leaflets (to 3″ long). Five-petaled bright yellow flowers (each to 1″ wide) bloom from mid-spring to late summer. Plants often grow in lawns, with flattened basal rosettes that survive foot traffic and mowing. In wild areas, plants may spread over time to form large colonies sometimes covering several acres of land, and in the process compete with and displace less vigorous native plants.

Genus name comes from the Latin word rana meaning frog because many species grow in damp places.

Specific epithet means creeping in reference to its stoloniferous spread.