The buttercup family includes many plants that are diverse in appearance and structure, distributed mainly in countries with a temperate and cold climate. They are also found in high mountain pastures. The ranunculus family, the general characteristics and description of the representatives of which are presented below, includes both poisonous plants, as well as medicinal and ornamental ones. Some species are listed in the Red Book.
Ranunculaceae family: general characteristics
The main features of plants of the ranunculus family relate to external features and structural features of organs. In particular, perennial herbaceous plants with alternate leaves without stipules predominate among the representatives.
The buttercup family belongs to flowers, that is, to flowering plants. Flowers are usually regular, bisexual. The most common flowers are of the five-type type, butthere are cases of deviations in the number of sepals and petals. Characterized by a large number of stamens and pistils.
The receptacle connects to the stamens and perianth under the pistil. Fastening is free. The corolla perianth can be double or simple, sometimes the petals can turn into nectaries.
The buttercup family is characterized by cross-pollination. Self-pollination is rare. Fruit type - achene or leaflet.
Distribution
Buttercups grow almost everywhere. Meadows, fields, forests - all these are habitats for members of the family. Many buttercups have poisonous properties. Able to harm the digestive, circulatory system of both humans and animals. Characteristic signs of poisoning are vomiting, loose stools, colic, convulsions, slowing of the pulse. If the animal eats too many buttercups, then this can lead to death, which occurs 6-12 hours after the onset of convulsions. It is important that when dried, the poisonous properties are lost.
Meaning
The buttercup family is quite numerous, and some plants are highly valued in gardening (peony, aconite, clematis). Among the representatives there are also medicinal plants, for example, spring adonis, which is used in the treatment of heart diseases. One of the earliest spring flowers is the golden ranunculus, and creeping buttercup can be found in the meadows.
The genus of buttercups is the most numerous
This genus essentially makes up almost the entire buttercup family. Representatives of the genus are very numerous - more than 300 species. Golden corollas gleam in the sun, as if smeared with butter, which attracts the attention of numerous inhabitants of the meadows. Despite their outward beauty, most buttercup species are weeds. And very durable. In the fight against them, meadow growers are in an obvious loss. These plants show an example of incredible resilience and adaptability to environmental conditions. For example, in the Faroe Islands, where there are continuous heavy rains, the buttercup has adapted to pollination without the participation of insects. Their absence there did not become an obstacle to the widespread distribution of these plants.
It is easy to answer the question about the morphological classification of the buttercup genus. What family it makes up can be understood by its name. In colloquial speech, this name is used for many plants, even belonging to other genera, but having typical family characteristics.
Ranunculus caustic
It is a meadow weed that blooms in spring. Can be found in meadows until late autumn. The height of the shoots can vary greatly, it varies from 20 cm to 60 cm.
The most typical member of the family is the caustic buttercup. Although the plant family is very diverse, this species is closest, from an evolutionary point of view, to ancient ancestors.
The leaves are deeply palmate, five-parted, have rhombic lobes. The lower ones are attached to long petioles, and the upper ones to short ones.
Upright stems are characterized bythe presence of adpressed hairs and single flowers located at the ends of the branches. There are no grooves on the pedicels, but there are soft hairs. Flower of the five type. The calyx is free-leaved, greenish in color, and the loose petals are bright yellow. At the base of each of the petals is a honey gland, which is covered with a scale.
One of the most dangerous plants for livestock is the caustic buttercup. The family includes other poisonous species, but due to the ubiquity of the caustic buttercup, it is this plant that most often causes poisoning in pets.
Field larkspur
Speaking of the field larkspur, they use several names: horned cornflower, sap.
Grows, as a rule, among winter crops, less often - among spring crops. Clusters of larkspur can also be found in fallow fields.
The flower is irregular, blue-violet, with spurs. They are located on the stem in the form of a rare branched brush. The perianth is represented by two colored sepals and two petals. Cross-pollination, with the participation of insects with long proboscis. With their help, they get nectar from the spur. The stem branches, it can reach a height of 30 cm. The leaves are tripartite with linear lobes. The fruit is a leaflet. The seeds are dark gray in color and can be up to 2-5 mm long. Outside, they are covered with thin scales. They have a bitter taste and poisonous properties. Cases of larkspur poisoning are common in sheep.
Pulsatilla
Characteristics of plants of the genusthe backache proves how diverse the ranunculaceae family is. Its representatives can be both weeds (buttercup) and rare plants (lumbago). The former do not know how to get rid of, and the latter do not know how to save. Backache appears in early spring, as soon as the snow melts. Hence the second name - snowdrop. First, a large flower of delicate purple or yellow color in the form of a glass begins to rise above the ground. It is so close to the surface that it can be very difficult to rip it off. The whole fragile plant is shrouded in a sheath, which is formed by numerous soft hairs. This helps to protect the delicate body from the cold. Day by day, the stem on which the flower is located is stretched more and more. Leaves appear much later. The vitality of the flower is supported by last year's reserves, which are scooped up by a powerful, strong, like a piece of wood, root hidden in the ground.
Pulsatilla needs protection
In many European countries, the backache has become so rare that its ecological value can be compared with that of a tiger in India. Backache is included in the Red Book there. On the territory of Siberia, there is still quite a lot of backache. To keep its numbers at a high level, ecologists took up its demography. The age of each plant within the experimental group was calculated, and subgroups of young and elderly were identified. The results of the study were very disappointing. The predominance of old individuals over young ones was prevailing. The explanation for this fact can be very different. Perhaps the reason for this is the low number of pollinating insects during the early spring. As a result, the flowers are little pollinated, which reduces the number of fruitlets. According to another version, the reddish background of last year's grass does not create a very rosy picture, but the purple inclusions of the lumbago flowers, apparently, are so pleasing to the eyes of the townspeople that they want to take a piece of this joy home. A happy feature, which consists in the late formation of leaves, does not allow the “headless plants” to die, but they no longer form fruits. Thus, there is no replenishment of the ranks of young animals. The number of old plants at the same time increases.
Shot flower is correct. That is, cutting it into two parts, you always get two symmetrical halves.
The secret of the neighborhood of the lumbago and pines
The family of buttercups, and in particular the genus Pulsatilla, became the object of study for the geobotanist I. Ilyinskaya. She successfully unraveled the secret of the constant neighborhood of the lumbago with the pine. It turns out that the fragile snowdrop is the protector of the tall pine tree. I. Ilyinskaya conducted her research in the forest-steppe. From tall trees, pine seeds are blown away by the wind to the steppe zone, where it is very difficult for them to take root. Most of the young seedlings die from the burning sun and the onslaught of steppe herbaceous vegetation. But there are unusual areas in the steppe where young pines flaunt in the middle of the bare steppe. They escaped both from the sun's rays and from the onslaught of grasses. And the lumbago bushes helped them, which, like a miniature palm grove, formed a shadow, so necessary for young shoots of pine. Having strengthened, the pine outgrows its protector. This is how the pines are gradually replacing the virgin steppe.
Aconite
Aconite flowers are wrong. One of the petals has grown so much that it has become much larger than the rest. It is like a helmet, which is why in some countries it is called the "monk's hood". There are 60 species in the genus Aconites. All of them are plants of the northern hemisphere. The buttercup family, as you know, is characterized by brightly colored flowers. Aconite is another confirmation of this. In the steppe, the characteristic color is yellow, in the taiga - blue and purple. The height of the shoots in the humid middle mountains, where the soil does not freeze due to the large amount of snow, can reach 2-3 meters. Then you can look at it only from the bottom up. Thickets of aconite, like a dense spruce forest, dark and damp. This darkness does not allow the development of other plants. The soil is covered with fallen aconite leaves. The stem at the top ends with a huge brush-garland of helmet-shaped flowers: from below they are large, blossoming, and above there are still buds. The reliability of procreation is ensured by different seed ripening times.
The beauty of aconite has long been valued in horticulture. Hunters in the Himalayas use poisonous aconite tubers as a substitute for curare. The aerial part is also poisonous, so you can’t leave a large bouquet indoors for a long time. The presence of poison in plants is a guarantee of their safety, protection from being eaten by herbivores. But there is an exception among representatives of the fauna. A pika (a rodent that looks like a ground squirrel) likes to feast on the greens of aconite. In summer, pikas cut aconite stalks to the very root, like lumberjacks felling trees. These are their winter preparations. Pikas gnaw through the stems, from which they then make sheaves.
Adonis
Healing herb of the buttercup family is adonis. He very subtly adapts to the conditions of the surrounding reality, sensitively reacting to any disturbances in nature introduced by man. Adonis is a resident of the steppes, which causes a small height of plants (no more than 50 cm). The leaves are typical for the habitat - with narrow slices, almost filiform, like a carrot. The flower is lush, golden in color. The number of petals varies from 15 to 20 pieces, there are many stamens and pistils. Flowers are used in pharmacology. They serve as raw materials for the manufacture of heart drops. But the steppes are being plowed up, and the amount of adonis is decreasing. They tried to grow it in the garden, but, alas, it did not take root there. Therefore, the areas of the steppe where the adonis has survived must be carefully protected.
Characterization of the Ranunculaceae family would be incomplete without an indication of its diversity. The number of genera in this family reaches fifty, and more than 2000 species. These are mainly herbs, in rare cases - shrubs. The tree structure (secondary) is characteristic of only a few species.
