Ranunculus gmeliniiDC.

Gmelin's buttercup

WFO wfo-0000461020 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Ranunculus gmelinii, photographed by Eric Lamb
fig. a Eric Lamb, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-10-10 / obs. 163079668
Ranunculus gmelinii, photographed by Oleg Kosterin
fig. b Oleg Kosterin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 166057757
Ranunculus gmelinii, photographed by Юлия
fig. c Юлия, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 162359871
Ranunculus gmelinii, photographed by steve b
fig. d steve b, CC0 1.0 / obs. 158044983
Ranunculus gmelinii, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. e Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 156881664
Ranunculus gmelinii, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. f Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 156262721
Ranunculus gmelinii, photographed by Tatiana Strus
fig. g Tatiana Strus, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151166910
Ranunculus gmelinii, photographed by Юлия
fig. h Юлия, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 143374887

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 53 botanical countries

Regions where Ranunculus gmelinii is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, Primorye, Sakhalin, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Laos, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Mexico, Newfoundland, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Oregon, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AltayAmurBuryatiyaChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaMongoliaPrimoryeSakhalinTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaLaosCentral European RussiaEast European RussiaNorth European RussiaAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoIdahoIllinoisIowaMaineManitobaMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNevadaNew BrunswickNew MexicoNewfoundlandNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOntarioOregonPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanUtahWashingtonWisconsinWyomingYukon Korea
Native distribution of Ranunculus gmelinii, 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
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Iowa IOW
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Mexico NWM
Newfoundland NFL
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Utah UTA
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Central European Russia RUC EUROPE
East European Russia RUE
North European Russia RUN
Laos LAO ASIA-TROPICAL

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 54 in flower of 68 examined

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Ranunculus gmelinii 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. 54 of 68 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 8 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.

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.

  • Ranunculus fauriei H.Lév.
  • Ranunculus gmelinii subsp. gmelinii
  • Ranunculus gmelinii subsp. purshii (Richardson) Hultén
  • Ranunculus gmelinii var. gmelinii
  • Ranunculus gmelinii var. hookeri (G.Don) L.D.Benson
  • Ranunculus gmelinii var. limosus (Nutt.) H.Hara
  • Ranunculus gmelinii var. prolificus (Fernald) H.Hara
  • Ranunculus gmelinii var. purshii (Richardson) H.Hara
  • Ranunculus gmelinii var. terrestris (Ledeb.) L.D.Benson
  • Ranunculus langsdorffii DC.
  • Ranunculus limosus Nutt.
  • Ranunculus multifidus var. limosus (Nutt.) G.Lawson
  • Ranunculus purshii Richardson
  • Ranunculus purshii subsp. yukonensis (Britton) A.E.Porsild
  • Ranunculus purshii var. dissectus Lunell
  • Ranunculus purshii var. hookeri G.Don
  • Ranunculus purshii var. prolificus Fernald
  • Ranunculus purshii var. schizanthus Lunell
  • Ranunculus purshii var. terrestris Ledeb.
  • Ranunculus terrestris F.L.Wynd
  • Ranunculus yukonensis Britton

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. 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.