Low Spearwort (Ranunculus pusillus)
- Family: Buttercup (Ranunculaceae)
- Flowering: May-June.
- Field Marks: This is the only Ranunculus with all the leaves unlobed and with 1-3 tiny petals shorter than the sepals.
- Habitat: Roadside ditches, swamps, wet woods.
- Habit: Annual herb with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Erect or sprawling, smooth or slightly hairy, sometimes branched, up to 1 foot long.
- Leaves: Basal and on the stem, linear to ovate, with or without teeth, smooth or slightly hairy, up to 1 1/2 inches long.
- Flowers: Solitary on slender stalks, with several flowers per stem, yellow.
- Sepals: 5, green, free from each other, about 1/10 inch long.
- Petals: 1-3, yellow, free from each other, about 1/10 inch long.
- Stamens: Up to 10.
- Pistils: Several, with a superior ovary.
- Fruits: Achenes oblongoid, brown, smooth, about 1/20 inch long, minutely beaked.
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