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Lesser Spearwort - Ranunculus flammula
Other Names:
Ranunculus reptans
Native Species
Global Rank:
G5
State Rank:
S4
C-value:
4
Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:
External Links
General Description
Stems slender with glabrous foliage, prostrate and rooting at the nodes or occasionally erect. Leaf blades lanceolate, tapered to the petiole, 5–60 mm long with entire margins. Flowers 1 per node; petals 3–5 mm long, slightly longer than the sparsely hairy sepals. Achenes glabrous, 1–2 mm long with a beak <0.5 mm long; heads hemispheric, 2–4 mm high (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
Circumboreal south to CA, NM, MN and NJ (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 11
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Mud along streams, lakes, ponds, tolerant of alkaline and saline soils; montane to subalpine (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Ecology
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus auricomus,
Bombus bifarius,
Bombus nevadensis, and
Bombus bimaculatus (Macior 1968, Thorp et al. 1983).
Stewardship Responsibility
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
Macior, L.M. 1968. Bombus (Hymenoptera, Apidae) queen foraging in relation to vernal pollination in Wisconsin. Ecology 49:20-25.- Thorp, R.W., D.S. Horning, and L.L. Dunning. 1983. Bumble bees and cuckoo bumble bees of California (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 23:1-79.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- King, C. R. 1953. The Ranunculaceae of Montana. M.S. Thesis, Bozeman, MT: Montana State College. 82 p.
- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
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