Goldilocks

We may have had lots of sun, but the air temperature and day length mean that spring flowers are still opening. I found a lovely patch of Goldilocks Buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus, today. This is a plant of ancient woods, not very common in our area and certainly not that showy, but it is very distinctive. The lower leaves are rounded and not very divided, like other buttercup species, but the upper leaves are very deeply divided. The remarkable feature is the flowers, which hardly ever have all the petals present and frequently just have one or two fully developed.