Ranunculus brotherusii
Freyn in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 6: 885. 1898. R. affinis Hook.
f. &. Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 18. 1872, p.p. (non R. Br.). R. brotherusii Freyn var. dasycarpus (Maxim.) Hand. Mazz. in Acta Hort. Gotob. 13: 149. 1939; Mukerjee in Bull.
Bot. Surv. India 2: 102. 1960. R. brotherusii Freyn var. latisectus H. Riedl in Kew Bull. 34:
362. 1979.
Perennial herbs; stems solitary or caespitose, erect, up to 25 cm high, simple or
branched, slender, with appressed white hairs or glabrous. Basal leaves several, reniform, 1 - 2 (-5) x 0.8 - 2.2 (-5) cm, deeply 3-lobed or temate, appressed hairy; middle
lobes ovate, partially 3-lobed; latera1 lobes deeply 2-lobed, sessile, oblong-ovate, cordate or cuneate at base; petioles 1 - 8 cm long, vaginate, pilose. Cauline leaves sessile, 2 - 4-partite, sparsely hirsute beneath, glabrous above; lacineae linear. Flowers 1 -
2, ca 1
cm across, yellow. Sepals spreading, ovate to broadly oblong, membranous, yellowish
green, pilose with appressed hairs. Petals 5, narrowly to broadly obovate, tapering to a
tubular claw, 4 -
6 mm across, silky; nectaries pocket-like or forked. Anthers ca 1 mm
long, dorsifixed and obovoid, latrorse; filaments dilated. Carpels glabrous. Achenes ca
1.5 mm long, glabrous or hirsute, on a compact oblong-ovoid to cylindrical 4 -
6 mm long
head; beaks slender, straight or incurved, ca 0.5 mm long, glabrous or pubescent.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES
| 1a. Leaves tarnate; carpels glabrous | 5.1. brotherusii |
| b. Leaves 3-lobed;carpels hairy | 5.2. tanguticus |
