The colors below indicate the kind of documentation available for this species
in the California counties where it occurs.
Buttercup Ranunculus californicus (Ranunculaceae)
The petals of this Buttercup are so shiny that they appear to be varnished. Buttercups can be locally common in habitats that receive 20 inches of annual rainfall. In her book, The Wild Flowers of California, Mary Parsons notes that the seeds of the Buttercup were eaten by Native Americans. They were parched and beaten into a flour that reportedly tasted like corn.
DISTRIBUTION: Grassland, oak woodland, mixed-evergreen or coniferous forest throughout the Calif. Floristic Province; < 2400 m.
