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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Ranunculus gelidus | Arctic Buttercup
ABBREVIATION :
RANGEL
SYNONYMS :
Ranunculus grayi Britt.
Ranunculus karelinii Czern. [6]
SCS PLANT CODE :
RAGE
COMMON NAMES :
arctic buttercup
ice cold buttercup
tundra buttercup
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name of arctic buttercup is Ranunculus
gelidus Kar. & Kir. [5,10,13].
There is disagreement as to whether or not R. grayi is really synonymous
[13].
LIFE FORM :
Forb
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
Arctic buttercup is rare and sparse in Glacier National Park and Montana
[8].
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Tara Y. Williams, October 1990
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Williams, Tara Y. 1990. Ranunculus gelidus. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Ranunculus gelidus | Arctic Buttercup
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Arctic buttercup is found in arctic America, south in the Rocky
Mountains to British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Montana, and
Colorado. The United States populations are disjunct from the Arctic
[5,10].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES44 Alpine
STATES :
AK CO MT UT WA WY AB BC NT YT
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
DENA GLAC NOCA WRST
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K052 Alpine meadows and barren
SAF COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Ranunculus gelidus | Arctic Buttercup
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
NO-ENTRY
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Ranunculus gelidus | Arctic Buttercup
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Arctic buttercup is a native perennial autotrophic forb with slender,
fibrous roots. It grows 1 to 3.5 inches (3-9 cm) tall. It has one or
two yellow flowers, which bear 30 to 80 achenes in an ovoid-cylindric
cluster 2 to 2.5 mm long [5].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Hemicryptophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Arctic buttercup reproduces sexually by pollination and fertilization
and propagates by seed [2].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Arctic buttercup grows above timberline in alpine meadows, alpine tundra
sedge communities, and on talus slopes [5,10]. It has been reported at
13,500 feet (4,355 m) in Colorado [3] and at 10,585 to 11,780 feet
(3,415-3,800 m) in Utah [10].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Ranunculus gelidus | Arctic Buttercup
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Ranunculus gelidus | Arctic Buttercup
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
NO-ENTRY
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
NO-ENTRY
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Ranunculus gelidus | Arctic Buttercup
REFERENCES :
1. Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals,
reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p.
[434]
2. Dittberner, Phillip L.; Olson, Michael R. 1983. The plant information
network (PIN) data base: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, and
Wyoming. FWS/OBS-83/86. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior,
Fish and Wildlife Service. 786 p. [806]
3. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others].
1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range
ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
4. Harrington, H. D. 1964. Manual of the plants of Colorado. 2d ed.
Chicago: The Swallow Press Inc. 666 p. [6851]
5. Hitchcock, C. Leo; Cronquist, Arthur. 1964. Vascular plants of the
Pacific Northwest. Part 2: Salicaceae to Saxifragaceae. Seattle, WA:
University of Washington Press. 597 p. [1166]
6. Kartesz, John T.; Kartesz, Rosemarie. 1980. A synonymized checklist of
the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. Volume
II: The biota of North America. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North
Carolina Press; in confederation with Anne H. Lindsey and C. Richie
Bell, North Carolina Botanical Garden. 500 p. [6954]
7. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation
of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
8. Lesica, P.; Moore, G.; Peterson, K. M.; Rumely, J. H. (Montana Rare
Plant Project). 1984. Vascular plants of limited distribution in
Montana. Monograph No. 2. Montana Academy of Sciences, Supplement to the
Proceedings, Volume 43. Bozman, MT: Montana State University, Montana
Academy of Sciences. 61 p. [11656]
9. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
10. Welsh, Stanley L.; Atwood, N. Duane; Goodrich, Sherel; Higgins, Larry
C., eds. 1987. A Utah flora. Great Basin Naturalist Memoir No. 9. Provo,
UT: Brigham Young University. 894 p. [2944]
11. Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern
Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Fire
Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT; RWU 4403 files. 7 p. [20090]
12. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982.
National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names.
SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p. [11573]
13. Weber, William A. 1987. Colorado flora: western slope. Boulder, CO:
Colorado Associated University Press. 530 p. [7706]
Index
Related categories for Species: Ranunculus gelidus
| Arctic Buttercup
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