Ranunculus sceleratus
Poison Buttercup ( Ranunculus sceleratus )
The Poison (Ranunculus sceleratus ) is a widespread plant of the family Ranunculaceae ( Ranunculaceae ) and on the northern hemisphere. His German trivial name refers to the toxicity, which is due to the high content of about 2.5% protoanemonin. A similarly high value is also found in some other buttercup species, for most it is significantly lower.
Description
Appearance
The Poison buttercups growing as an annual to perennial, herbaceous plant that reaches the plant height of about 10 to 80 centimeters. The fibrous roots are almost the same thickness. The hollow, erect, branched in the upper part stem is hairy hairless to sparsely fluffy.
Laubblatt
The leaves are distributed basal and alternate on the stem. The three to thirteen basal leaves and lower stem leaves are composed of petiole and leaf blade. Your almost bald until fluffy sparsely hairy petiole 1,2 to 15 cm long. Your five a corner with a length of 1-5 cm and a width of 1.5 to 6,8 cm in outline, kidney-shaped, broadly ovate to nearly circular leaf blade with a wide heart-shaped Spreitenbasis and it is deep in three parts; wherein the central leaf segment is wedge-shaped or rhombic and three-lobed, these lobes are smooth or mono-to bidentate, the two lateral leaflets obliquely broadly obovate or obliquely wedge-shaped and unequally bilobed or two columns to the middle. Sometimes they are undivided, then they are notched to notched - lobed and the end is rounded or sometimes dull. The Spreitenflächen are bald or the lower leaf surface is hairy fluffy. The upper stem leaves are short-stalked and have a leaf blade with wedge base and three runs - lanceolate leaflets.
Inflorescence and flower
The poison buttercup blooms depending on the location between January and November. In schirmtraubigen inflorescences many flowers and foliage leaf-like bracts are together. The often furrowed flower stems are hairy 0.5 to 1.5 cm long, glabrous or sparsely fluffy.
The hermaphrodite, radial symmetry, five petals have a diameter of 0.4 to 0.8 cm. The drum-shaped base of the flower ( receptacle ) is hairy hairless or downy. The three to five already mostly near the base recurved sepals are ovate -elliptic and outside pressed pubescent or glabrous with a length of 2 to 5 mm and a width of 1 to 3 mm. The three to five most free, yellow petals are obovate with a length of 2.2 to 4.5 mm and a width of 1.4 to 2.4 mm. On the petals are nectaries to the, but not on them to poorly developed scales are. There are 10 to 19 stamens with anthers ellipsoid available. There are numerous carpels present, on which directly because a stylus is missing, yet recognizable, about 0.1 mm wide scar sits on the ripe fruit.
Fruit
In a length of 3 to 13 mm and a width of 1.5 to 7 mm ellipsoidal to cylindrical collecting fruits are many individual fruits together. The bare individual fruits ( achenes ) with a length of 1 to 1.2 and a diameter of 0.8 to 1 mm obliquely obovate, slightly flattened laterally, sometimes transversely two-to threefold and somewhat swollen at the sutures, and a mostly straight, about 0.1 mm long beak ( = the tough scar ).
Ecology
The poison buttercup is an annual marsh plant that settles on dry mud covered floors itself as a pioneer plant. She lives there amphibious; in the water with typical floating leaves. The flowers are arranged on a cylindrical flower axis, have uncovered nectaries and up to 100 ovary.
As pollinators act primarily two-winged insects such as flies. More rarely, self-pollination ( autogamy ) was observed. The slightly sticky fruits are often spread through the water and remain rarely in animals remains and can be spread this way. The Poison Buttercup also has durable seeds germinate in spring ( at shorter nights).
The species is diploid, tetraploid or octoploid, their chromosome number is 2n = 16, 32 or 64
Toxicity
The poison buttercup has a sharp taste and is poisonous in all plant parts.
Main ingredients are: Ranunculin, Anemonin and protoanemonin.
Poisoning symptoms include: Severe generalized sensations such as numbness, dizziness, heaviness in head, fainting, rapid and small pulse, severe stomach pain; finally can occur even death.
The hay is safe in animals, to fatal poisoning can occur only when the mass- occurrence of ryegrass. It can also lead to gastroenteritis, hemorrhagic nephritis and central nervous system excitement and seizures. Only an unusually large intake leads to death due to cardiac and respiratory paralysis.
In humans it can cause skin irritation, which show up in itching, redness, swelling and blistering. However, it can also arise painful boils and more or less deep tissue damage. Entire limbs can then look like a 2nd degree burn.
The Danish term " beggar - Buttercup " comes from the fact that beggars einrieben on visible parts of the body with the plant juice, thereby elicit pity causing sores with rash.
Occurrence
The poison buttercup is widespread in the northern hemisphere and occurs both in Eurasia as North America. He thrives in waters and in moist meadows and is mainly found near nutrient-rich, sometimes on the shore passing waters.
Subspecies
The Poison Buttercup arrives in Europe in two subspecies:
- Subsp. reptabundus ( Rupr. ) Hultén, arrives in Europe only in northern Russia before
- Subsp. sceleratus, is widespread in Western, Central and Eastern Europe clan.
Swell
- Wang Wencai, Michael G. Gilbert: Ranunculus. In: Flora of China. Volume 6, 2001, p 421: Ranunculus sceleratus - online. (Section Description and occurrence)
- Alan T. Whittemore: Ranunculus. In: Flora of North America. Volume 3, 1997: Ranunculus sceleratus - online. (Section Description and occurrence)
- Ruprecht Duell, Herfried Kutzelnigg: Pocket Dictionary of Plants in Germany and neighboring countries. 7th edition. Quelle & Meyer Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1.
- Lutz Roth, Max Daunderer, Kurt Kormann: poisonous plants plant toxins. 6th edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86820-009-6.
- Poison Buttercup. In: FloraWeb.de.