Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Ranunculus niphophilus

Flowers, seed clusters, and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Colin Totterdell, Kosciuszko National Park

Flowering plants. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Kosciuszko National Park

Flowering plants. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Colin Totterdell, Kosciuszko National Park

Common name

Snow buttercup

Family

Ranunculaceae

Where found

Alpine herbfields and in springs and flushes below semipermanent snow patches. Kosciuszko National Park.

Notes

Perennial herb to 0.2 m high. Flowering stems hairless to hairy. Leaves mostly basal, 0.6–4.5 cm long, hairless to sparsely hairy with long spreading hairs, dissected, the segments lobed or toothed. Flowers bright yellow, about 15–30 mm in diameter, with 5-7 petals. Sepals spreading. Flowering stems unbranched. Flowers single. Flowering: summer. Seeds numerous, 2.4–3 mm long, lens-shaped, the sides smooth or slightly dimpled; beak slender, 1–1.7 mm long, straight or curved.

Hybridises with Ranunculus clivicola.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Ranunculus~niphophilus  (accessed 4 February, 2021)