Flora-Fauna

Ranunculus ficarioides Bory & Chaub.

(First published in Nouv. Fl. Pélop.: 34 (1838); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. XII nº 2; 1970, as Ficaria ficarioides (Bory & Chaub.) Hal., syn. R. ficarioides Bory & Chaub.) (Plants of the World Online)

• Life-form & habit : Dwarf, glabrous perennial geophyte; underground stem up to 5 cm or more, surrounded by one or two membranous sheaths; aerial portion very short and overtopped by the leaves.

• Leaves : Leaves often rather long-petiolate, up to 10 cm long; blade cordate at the base, 2–3 cm long, always distinctly and rather regularly lobed.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers small, sometimes with fewer than 8 petals; sepals 3; petals yellow, as in Ficaria. Pedicels short at anthesis, later very accrescent and strongly arched, sometimes describing a complete circle.

• Fruit : Fruiting head globose, composed of subglobose achenes that are entirely glabrous.

• Phenology : Flowers from April to June, depending on altitude.

• Habitat & elevation : Very humid soils, especially in wooded places; recorded from the lower mountain belt to the middle mountain belt, locally reaching about 2000 m in the Ehden forest area.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Ra'chine in Kesrouan, the Cedars of Barouk, the Cedars of ‘Aïn Zehalta, the Col de Zahlé, Moukhada near Laqlouq, Jabal Foughry above Douma, the forest of Ehden up to about 2000 m, the Cedars, and Jabal Qamou‘a.

• Native range : Greece, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye.

• Diagnostic remarks : Treated by Mouterde under Ficaria ficarioides (Bory & Chaub.) Hal.; POWO currently accepts Ranunculus ficarioides Bory & Chaub. It is separated from Ficaria grandiflora by its smaller flowers, often around 1 cm or less, distinctly and regularly lobed leaves, and glabrous achenes; F. grandiflora has larger flowers, 1.5–3 cm in diameter, entire or only weakly sinuate leaves, and non-glabrous achenes. (Plants of the World Online)