Halerpestes tricuspis (Maxim.) Hand.-Mazz. in Acta Hort. Gotob. 13: 135. 1939; Chatterjee in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 56: 670. 1960. Ranunculus tricuspis Maxim., Fl. Tangut. 12. 1889. R. cymbalarieae Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 17. 1872, p. p.

Leaves all basal broadly ovate or orbicular in outline, 0.5 - 1.5 cm long and broad, shallowly or deeply tripartite; segments oblong or oblanceolate, obtuse, sometimes lobed, glabrous; petioles 1 - 2 cm long. Flowers yellow, 8 - 10 mm across; scapes 2 - 2.5 cm long, one-flowered. Sepals narrowly ovate, ca 4 mm long, spreading, greenish. Petals obovate, 4 - 5 x 1.75 mm, yellow. Achenes 40 - 50, on round capitula, obovoid, ca 1 mm long, faintly striate; style persistent, straight or slightly hooked.

Fl. & Fr. July - Sept.

Distrib. India: Alpine Himalayas, in shallow water and marshy areas, 3000 - 5000 m. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim.

Bhutan, Nepal, China, Mangolia and Russia.

Notes. The nomenclature and taxonomy of this group are complicated. The size and shape of the leaves are highly variable, and perhaps, are influenced by the conditions of the habitat. Further studies are needed. All the variants are treated under a single species here, as done by Hara (in Fl. E. Nepal, 3rd repr 37 - 39. 1975). Some authors treat this species as a synonym of Ranunculus tricuspis Maxim. (Hara, Enum. Fl. Pl. Nepal 2: 43. 1979).