Annual Buttercup - native (Ranunculus sessiliflorus)

Family: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family).

Native of Australia. All States.

Occurrence: Widespread and fairly common.

Identification:

• it is a slender plant
• the yellow petals are very small and inconspicuous
• it is a slender trailing or weakly erect plant
• the leaves are divided into three or five leaflets and the lobes may be further toothed
• the leaf stalk has spreading hairs at the base and appressed hairs near the flower
• the beak on the fruit segments are 30% to 50% of the length of the segment
• fruit segments have raised lumps (tubercules) which have short hairs.

Similar species: Ferny Small-leaf Buttercup (Ranunculus pumilio) has shorter beaks (less than 25%) on the fruit segments, and the lumps on the fruit segments have longer hairs which exceed the width of the lumps (tubercules).

Photos 1, 2: Annual Buttercup. Kamarooka. 3: A young plant. The stems will lengthen. 4: Fruit is made up of a cluster of segments (the achenes) which have raised lumps (the tubercules).