Click on images to enlarge
infestation in a drain (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
lower leaves and flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
upper leaves and flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of leaf and flower (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
flowers from side-on (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
stems and immature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of immature fruit (Photo: Greg Jordan)
close-up of seeds (Photo: Jose Hernandez at USDA PLANTS Database)
Scientific Name
Ranunculus muricatus L.
Family
Ranunculaceae
Common Names
burr buttercup, buttercup, prickle fruited buttercup, prickle-fruit buttercup, pricklefruit buttercup, roughseed buttercup, Sicily buttercup, sharp buttercup, sharp-fruited buttercup, spinyfruit buttercup, spiny-fruited buttercup, spring buttercup
Origin
Native to southern Europe (i.e. France, Portugal, Spain, Albania, eastern Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, eastern Romania, Yugoslavia and southern Ukraine), the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands, northern Africa (i.e. northern Algeria, northern Egypt, northern Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) and western Asia and the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. northern India and Pakistan).
Naturalised Distribution
Widely naturalised in the temperate regions of southern Australia (i.e. in New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, many parts of South Australia and the coastal districts of south-western Western Australia). Also naturalised on Norfolk Island and occasionally naturalised in south-eastern Queensland.
Naturalised overseas in southern and western USA (i.e. California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina), New Zealand and on some Pacific islands (i.e. Hawaii).
Notes
Sharp buttercup (Ranunculus muricatus) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria and Western Australia. It is a common weed of gardens, lawns, pastures and disturbed sites throughout southern Australia, but also invades wetter natural habitats in many areas.
For example, sharp buttercup (Ranunculus muricatus) grows in wetlands, swamps, winter-wet depressions, and waterways from Perth to Albany in south-western Western Australia. It is also listed as an environmental weed in some parts of Victoria (e.g. in the Goulburn Broken Catchment and in Knox City).
Sharp buttercup (Ranunculus muricatus) has also been recorded growing in numerous conservation areas in Victoria (i.e. Morwell National Park, Brisbane Ranges National Park and Pomborneit North Nature Conservation Reserve) and South Australia (i.e. Cleland Conservation Park, Cromer Conservation Park, Mount Magnificent Conservation Park, Onkaparinga River National Park, Totness Recreation Park and Scott Creek Conservation Park).
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