Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Ranunculus repens L.

Family

Ranunculaceae

Common Names

butter daisy, buttercup, creeping buttercup, creeping crowfoot

Origin

Native to Europe, the Azores, the Madeira Islands, north-western Africa (i.e. northern Algeria and Morocco), western Asia (i.e. northern Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and northern Asia (i.e. Russia, Mongolia, northern China and Japan).

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in south-eastern Australia (i.e. in the coastal and sub-coastal districts of eastern New South Wales, in the ACT, in many parts of Victoria, in Tasmania and in south-eastern South Australia). It is also occasionally naturalised in south-eastern Queensland and on Norfolk Island.

Also widely naturalised in other parts of the world (i.e. in southern Africa, New Zealand, Hawaii, the USA, Canada, Central America and South America).

Notes

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) is regarded as a significant environmental weed in Victoria and as an environmental weed in New South Wales and the ACT. In a recent survey, it was also listed as a priority environmental weed in at least one Natural Resource Management region.

As well as being a weed of gardens, lawns, roadsides, waste areas and pastures, this species commonly grows in wetter habitats (i.e. in marshes, swamps and wetlands). It prefers moist, marshy soils, and tends to infest creek banks and swampy areas. Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) spreads rapidly and quickly displaces native plants in such environments, particularly in areas which are disturbed or nutrient-enriched.

In Victoria, creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) is regarded as a serious threat to one or more vegetation formations. It is listed as a high impact weed species in floodplain riparian woodlands and estuarine wetlands in some parts of the state. It also appears on numerous local and regional environmental weed lists (e.g. in Monash City, Banyule City, Knox City, Manningham City, the Shire of Yarra Ranges, Colac-Otway Shire and the Goulburn Broken Catchment).

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) is listed as one of the alien naturalised plants present in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve that has the potential to seriously degrade or even eliminate the indigenous vegetation in the reserve. It is also listed as one of the main weed species of concern to endangered sedge-rich Eucalyptus camphora swamp vegetation in Victoria.