Index / Search / Ranunculus sceleratus

§1 Plant — species · Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus sceleratus L.

vernacular cursed buttercup


USDA
RASC3
GBIF
3033374
Rank
species
cursed buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus)
Platephotograph · pfaucherCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb
Duration
Annual, Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Ranunculaceae Juss.
Genus
Ranunculus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Native
  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
  • SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Introduced

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
None
Shade
Low
Moisture use
High
Fire
Low
Salinity
Low
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
52 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
Precipitation
8–55 in/yr
pH range
4.8–8.4
Root depth
6 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Crown
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
2 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Porous
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Spring
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
25,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
No Known Source
Nursery stock
No
Palatable, human
No
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Montana distribution

Recorded in 12 of 56 Montana counties.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/RASC3 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3033374 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z