General: Perennial herb from a slender rhizome; stems erect, 5-30 cm tall, hairy above.
Leaves: Basal, 1, simple, ascending, strongly veined, kidney-shaped to circular in outline, 1.5-3 (4) cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, palmately 3-lobed, smooth or lightly soft-hairy, toothed throughout, the ultimate segments 4-10 (15) mm wide, tips pointed; stalks 2-8 (12) cm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence a solitary terminal flower; involucral bracts 2 to 3, leaf-like, similar to basal leaves but unstalked, broadly diamond-shaped in outline, and 3-lobed; petals absent; sepals usually 6, petal-like, yellow, elliptic, 8-15 mm long, 4-10 mm wide, hairy outside, at least near base, smooth inside; stamens 25-55.
Fruits: Achenes, several to many in a loose, spheric head on hairy stalk 3-20 cm long, the achenes egg-shaped to oblong, 3-4 mm long, about 1.5 mm wide, not winged, smooth, abruptly beaked, beaks hooked, 4-6 mm long, smooth.
Notes: At first glance this yellow-flowered species could be mistaken for Ranunculus lapponicus.
Moist to wet streambanks, seepage sites, peaty tundra, meadows, thickets, swamps and open forests from the montane to alpine zones; common E of the Coast Mountains and N of 52degreeN; amphiberingian, N to AK, YT and NT, E to PQ and Greenland; NE Asia.
Ecological Framework for Anemonastrum richardsonii
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
