General:
Perennial herb from cluster of fleshy roots, the roots 1-3 mm wide; stems prostrate to ascending, simple or branched above, 4-15 cm tall/long, smooth, not hollow.

Leaves:
Mostly basal, persistent, kidney- or egg-shaped, to narrowly elliptic, 0.7-5.2 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, margins entire or shallowly 3-lobed at tip, tips rounded to pointed, bases blunt to narrowed, the stalks long, slender; stem leaves alternate, unstalked or nearly so, deeply 3-lobed; smooth.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of 1- to 4-flowered, terminal cymes, on stalks to 10 cm long; receptacle smooth; petals 5-10 or more, distinct, yellow, 8-13 mm long, 5-12 mm wide, egg-shaped, nectary on upper surface, the nectary scale smooth or fringed with hairs, 1.5-2 mm long; sepals 5, early deciduous, spreading to bent back, 5-8 mm long, 3-7 mm wide, smooth above or sparsely hairy; stamens 40-80; pistils 30-150.

Fruits:
Achenes, numerous in a globe-shaped head 7-12 (20) mm long, 6-11 (20) mm wide, the achenes egg-shaped, plump, slightly winged, 1.4-2.2 mm long, 1.1-1.8 mm wide, usually minutely-hairy; beaks persistent, lanceolate- to awl-shaped, straight or curved, 0.4-1 mm long.

Notes:
Two sympatric and intergrading varieties occur in BC:

1. Basal leaf blades egg-shaped, usually shallowly lobed; stem leaves usually entire..................... var. glaberrimus

1. Basal leaf blades oblanceolate to elliptic, usually entire; stem leaves entire to 3-lobed..................... var. ellipticus Greene

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Ranunculus ellipticus Greene
Ranunculus glaberrimus var. buddii B. Boivin