California Buttercup

Ranunculus californicus flower

California Buttercup or Ranunculus californicus is a common species of buttercup though it seems that common buttercup (Ranunculus crepens) is much more...well... common. Up till now I have only seen the latter. The difference is in the number of petals: the creeping variety has only five while californicus has lots of petals (around twelve, though the number varies among species). The leaves are similar: deeply lobed dark green. In fact even in this area this plant is not widespread, unlike creeping buttercup, california variety is rather sparse.

Below you can see the different species of ranunculus.  As the name implies, both are part of the family Ranunculaceae.

California buttercup in the oak grove

And here is the picture of creeping buttercup for comparison:

Creeping buttercup is at home in all kinds  of habitat

Want to see the cultivated variety? Ranunculus makes a vary nice decorative flower as well. Of course you can hardly recognize it, like a rose cultivar, it looks quite different from its wild brothers. In fact, to me it looks very much like a rose.

 Yellow ranunculus cultivar

Nigella

Nigella

Nigella is an interesting garden plant that has a very distinctive appearance. The leaves are dill-like. The flowers are rather big, blue with a big protruding middle part with tentacle-like filaments (stamens?). I see it occasionally on the curbsides.

The seeds in some varieties are edible and known as black cumin or onion seeds (yeah, I know). Though the name cumin can refers to a couple of other plants. Nigella seeds are widely used in Indian cuisine.

Nigella is easy to grow in the garden. The plant is self seeding.

Nigella is part of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae).

Nigella seed capsule

Nigella has dill-like leaves

Creeping Buttercup

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) is probably the most ubiquitous plant of the area. It can be found in all kinds of habitat: in the redwood forest, marsh and even in flower beds. It is rather conspicuous plant with deeply lobed dark green leaves and bright yellow flowers.

Creeping buttercup at the Arcata marsh

The plant is poisonous and cows avoid eating it as it does not taste good. Strangely enough though, when it is dried with hay, the toxins disappear.

Creeping buttercup flower

Buttercup belongs to Buttercup family  (Ranunculaceae).