Bible Encyclopedias
Buttercup

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Prev Entry
Butter

Next Entry
Butterfly and Moth

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

Additional Links

Dictionaries
Webster Dictionary
• Buttercup
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Buttercup

a name applied to several species of the genus Ranunculus, characterized by their deeply-cut leaves and yellow, broadly cup-shaped flowers. Ranunculus acris and R. bulbosus are erect, hairy meadow plants, the latter having the stem swollen at the base, and distin guished also by the furrowed flower-stalks and the often smaller flowers with reflexed, not spreading, sepals. R. repens, common on waste ground, produces long runners by means of which it rapidly covers the ground. The plants are native in the north temperate to arctic zones of the Old World, and have been introduced in America.