Halerpestes cymbalariaGreene

alkali buttercup

WFO wfo-0000714596 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Halerpestes cymbalaria, photographed by Jeff D Hansen
fig. a Jeff D Hansen, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-09-03 / obs. 155020658

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 67 botanical countries

Regions where Halerpestes cymbalaria is native: Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Greenland, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Bolivia, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay AlaskaAlbertaArizonaArkansasBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutGreenlandIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasLabradorMaineManitobaMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SouthwestMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTexasUtahWashingtonWisconsinWyomingYukonArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthBoliviaChile CentralChile NorthChile SouthColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorGuatemalaPeruUruguay Rhode I.
Native distribution of Halerpestes cymbalaria, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southwest MXS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Argentina South AGS
Bolivia BOL
Chile Central CLC
Chile North CLN
Chile South CLS
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
Guatemala GUA
Peru PER
Uruguay URU

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 291 in flower of 308 examined

Proportion of examined Halerpestes cymbalaria in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 2 2 too few examined
Feb 3 3 too few examined
Mar 5 5 100% 57% to 100%
Apr 12 12 100% 76% to 100%
May 42 42 100% 92% to 100%
Jun 71 72 99% 93% to 100%
Jul 78 82 95% 88% to 98%
Aug 48 52 92% 82% to 97%
Sep 17 19 89% 69% to 97%
Oct 9 13 69% 42% to 87%
Nov 3 4 too few examined
Dec 1 2 too few examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Halerpestes cymbalaria observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 291 of 308 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,917 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -20.9 °C -11.2 °C 3.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 16.7 °C 24.7 °C 31.1 °C
Annual rainfall 238 mm 446 mm 1,559 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 25 mm 50 mm 275 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,917 research-grade observations of Halerpestes cymbalaria that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 21 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cyrtorhyncha cymbalaria Britton
  • Cyrtorhyncha cymbalaria subsp. alpina (Hook.) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Halerpestes cymbalaria var. saximontanus (Fernald) Moldenke
  • Halerpestes tridentata Greene
  • Oxygraphis cymbalaria Prantl
  • Oxygraphis tridentata (Kunth) Prantl
  • Ranunculus cymbalaria Pursh
  • Ranunculus cymbalaria f. hebecaulis Fernald
  • Ranunculus cymbalaria f. microphylla Hauman
  • Ranunculus cymbalaria subsp. saximontanus (Fernald) Thorne
  • Ranunculus cymbalaria var. alpina Hook.
  • Ranunculus cymbalaria var. saximontanus Fernald
  • Ranunculus halophilus Schltdl.
  • Ranunculus hemignostus Steud.
  • Ranunculus maritimus Phil.
  • Ranunculus microcarpus C.Presl
  • Ranunculus minutus Gay
  • Ranunculus pozoifolius Gay
  • Ranunculus tridentatus Kunth ex DC.
  • Ranunculus tridentatus var. major DC.
  • Ranunculus tridentatus var. minor DC.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol RACY. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.