RANUNCULACEAE - Buttercup or Crowfoot's
Family
Annual or perennial
herbs, few shrubs and vines
Leaves alternate and palmately
divided, petioles sheathing stem at base, no stipules
Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic or
zygomorphic, in a variety of
inflorescences
Insect pollinated
Placentation marginal
Fruit a follicle, achene
or berry
Seed with minute embryo
62 genera, 2450 species
The Ranunculaceae is divided into five subfamilies based on the
number of gynoecia, presence/absence of the corolla, and the number
of ovules/carpel.
Medicinal uses - There are a wide range of drugs
and poisons found in the Ranunculaceae. Many compounds serve both
purposes, some can cure disease at one dosage and kill at a higher
one. These compounds are alkaloids, which are a general class of
nitrogen-containing compounds, many of which are derived from amino
acids. They probably function to prevent consumption by herbivores
but humans have experimented with and adapted many of these for other
purposes. As you might expect, some members of this family are
responsible for livestock poisoning.
Diagnostic characteristics - Herbaceous, leaves palmately
divided, flowers with many stamens, gynoecium of many simple pistils,
fruit an aggregate of achenes or follicles.