Ranunculus pulchellus C. Meyer in Ledeb. Fl. Alt. 2: 333. 1830; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 17. 1872. R. pulchellus C. Meyer var. sericeus Hook. f. & Thomson, l. c.

Herbs, perennial, erect, 25 - 35 cm high, branched; roots fusiform; stems erect, ascending or sometimes decumbent, 3 - 30 cm long, simple or branched, sericeous. Basal leaves 1 - 5; blades oblong, reniform or ovate-elliptic, entire or 3-lobed, or in some deeply cut, crenate, 20 - 35 x 3 - 10 mm; leaf-bases round or subtruncate; petioles 1.5 - 12 cm long, clearly longer than the blades, sheathing at base. Lower and middle leaves narrowly elliptic or deeply 3-lobed, sheathing at base, sometimes all leaves linear-elliptic, up to 9 x 0.4 cm. Flowers solitary or 2 - 3 per leaf, 0.6 - 1 cm across, yellow; pedicels sulcate, 0.5 - 8 cm long, sericeous. Sepals 5, patent, oblong-elliptic, 4 - 6 x 3 - 5 mm, purplish along margins, blackish at tip, hairy. Petals 5 (-8), obovate to broadly ovate, entire or slightly emarginate, 6 - 9 mm across, yellow; nectaries cup-shaped, with projected borders or rather forked. Anthers 0.8 - 1.6 mm long, basifIxed; filaments flattened. Achenes obovoid, ca 1.5 mm long, inflated, glabrous on oblong or cylindrical 4 - 9 mm long head; stylar beak ca 0.7 mm long, straight or curved; receptacle glabrous.

Fl. & Fr. June - Oct.

Distrib. India: Himalayas, alpine and subalpine regions, damp sandy soil in meadows and cliff edges, 3500 - 4500 m. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

Nepal, China (Tibet), Afghanistan, Iran and Russia.

Notes. Very variable in habit; several intermediates occur and the varieties like longicaulis, potanii, sericeus and stracheyanus as recognised by Hook. f. & Thomson (1872) and Hara (in Enum. Fl. Pl. Nepal 2: 20. 1979) are difficult to maintain.