Buttercup (Ranunculus Muricatus)

Buttercup (Scientific - Ranunculus Muricatus) are actually quite pretty which belongs Ranunculus family, but the Buttercup has an insidious nature however, buttercup is considered by many to be a weed due to its invasive and prolific nature.The saying, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” may have the sting of truth in regards to buttercup. The plant would make a pretty picture gamboling over the landscape with its bright sunny yellow flowers and attractive lobed foliage, but the creeping stems root and take hold as the plant scrabbles over soil. Each newly rooted spot is a new plant. Add to that that, the plant can reestablish itself with just a root or stem fragment. it develops a hairless stem up to half a meter long which may grow erect or decumbent along the ground. The leaves have blades a few centimetres in length which are deeply divided into three lobes or split into three leaflets. They are hairless to hairy in texture, and are borne at the tips of long petioles. The flower has five shiny yellow petals under 1 centimetre long around a lobed central receptacle studded with many stamens and pistils. The fruit is a spiny achene borne in a spherical cluster .

Despite safety concerns, buttercup is used for arthritis, nerve pain, blisters, ongoing (chronic) skin problems, and bronchitis.

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