Ranunculus ficaria
Tracheophyta
›Magnoliopsida›Ranunculaceae›Ranunculus›Ranunculus ficaria
Ecology
An aestivating perennial herb that grows in woods, hedge banks, meadows, roadsides, maritime grassland, the banks of rivers and streams and shaded waste ground. It prefers damp, loamy or clay soils, and avoids very dry, very acidic or permanently waterlogged sites. 0?750 m (Loch Lochy, Westerness), but probably higher elsewhere in Scotland.
Status
Native
Trends
The distribution of R. ficaria is stable. Losses at the fringe of its Scottish range probably reflect a lack of recent fieldwork in spring. The species is morphologically and cytologically variable; the two native subspecies are mapped separately.
World Distribution
European Southern-temperate element.
© M. Cotterill, IWNHAS
© M. Cotterill, IWNHAS
© M. Cotterill, IWNHAS
© M. Cotterill, IWNHAS
Parkhurst Forest
© C. Pope, IWNHAS
Parkhurst Forest
© C. Pope, IWNHAS
SZ476916, Parkhurst Forest
© M. Cotterill, IWNHAS
SZ482918, Parkhurst
© M. Cotterill, IWNHAS
SZ482918, Parkhurst
© M. Cotterill, IWNHAS
Broad Habitats
Light (Ellenberg): 6
Moisture (Ellenberg): 6
Reaction (Ellenberg): 6
Nitrogen (Ellenberg): 6
Salt Tolerance (Ellenberg): 0
January Mean Temperature (Celsius): 3.6
July Mean Temperature (Celsius): 14.5
Annual Precipitation (mm): 1084
Height (cm): 25
Perennation - primary
Perennial
Life Form - primary
Non-bulbous geophyte (rhizome, corm or tuber)
Woodiness
Herbaceous
Clonality - primary
Tuberous or bulbous, slowing cloning by offsets
Clonality - secondary
Detaching ramets above ground (often axillary)
Count of 10km squares in Great Britain: 2648
Count of 10km squares in Ireland: 820
Count of 10km squares in the Channel Isles: 14
Atlas Change Index: 0.16
Weighted Changed Factor: -6
Weighted Change Factor Confidence (90%)
29
JNCC Designations
NBNSYS0000002735
Comment on Clonality