Difference between revisions of "Ranunculus occidentalis"

Latest revision as of 11:28, 7 July 2010

Ranunculus occidentalis (western buttercup) is a species of buttercup found in the western United States and Canada.^[1] Its distribution extends from Alaska through British Columbia and Alberta to central California.^[1] The flower can be seen in open meadows, forests, and other generally flat areas up to an elevation of 2,200 metres (7,200 ft).^[2]

Aleut Indians may have used juice from the plant as a poison,^[3] its toxicity arising from the substance protoanemonin.^[4] Shasta Indians coincided blooming R. occidentalis with salmon runs in the summer.^[5] The seeds were used to make pinole, a staple food.^[6]

This plant is similar to, and sometimes difficult to distinguish from, the California buttercup (Ranunculus californicus).

References

External links

• Washington Burke Museum
• Photo gallery

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1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "Plants Database Entry ranunculus occidentalis". United States Department of Agriculture. 
2. ↑ "Jepson Manual Treatment for ranunculus occidentalis". University of California Berkley Jepson Treaments. Retrieved 2009-06-05.  External link in |publisher= (help)
3. ↑ Flora of North America
4. ↑ Bank, Theodore (1953). "Botanical and ethnobotanical studies in the Aleutian Islands - Health and Medical Lore ...". Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters: 428. 
5. ↑ Holt, Catharine (1946). "Shasta Ethnography". University of California, Berkeley: 310. 
6. ↑ Ethnobotany