| Author | Hudson | |
| Distribution | Now present over much of the Piedmont and Mountains. First collected in NC by A. Krings in 2005 and reported in Sida 21. It is spreading rapidly in the state, and the map below is certainly out of date right now.
Native of Europe; in N.A mostly in the northeastern states. | |
| Abundance | Locally common in some areas, especially where the ground is frequently disturbed, such as in city parks and gardens. Greatly increasing -- a pernicious weed! | |
| Habitat | Alluvial soils of brownwater streams; many other rich soil habitats (often forested), mostly where disturbed, but it can invade natural areas. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting March-April. Disappears above ground by the end of April -- thankfully. | |
| Identification | This plant resembles buttercups, but the leaves are rounded, cordate at the base, undivided, and rather thick textured. Flower stalks exceed the leaves. It tends to grow in very dense patches, excluding other vegetation; thankfully, it is a spring ephemeral, disappearing above ground by late April or May -- so that we do not have to look at the leaves and fruit later in the summer. Plants need to be eradicated where found. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Also treated as Ranunculus ficaria. FNA disregards the infraspecific taxa as "impossible to distinguish." Weakley (2022) lists two subspecies -- the very common and increasing spp. calthifolia, and the scarce spp. ficariiformis, limited right now to the Piedmont. It has much smaller leaves and flowers than does calthifolia.
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| Other Common Name(s) | | |
| State Rank | SE | |
| Global Rank | GNR | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FAC link |
| USACE-emp | FAC link |
