Ranunculus is a large genus of about 600 species of plants in the “Ranunculaceae“.
The genus members include the buttercups, spearworts, and water crowfoots. Most of the ranunculus available are the showy hybrids that you see in florist shops.
The beautiful flowers which are several inches across are round globes. It is made up of many papery textured petals in bright, almost electric colors like red, pink, yellow, gold, white, and picotee. This is with the petals edged in a contrasting color. The name Ranunculus is Late Latin for “little frog,” the diminutive of Rana and this may refer to many species being found near water, like frogs.
They grow 18 to 24 inches tall. They are hardy only in warm climates. This flower is blooming in late winter and spring and going dormant. In the summer; both the flowers and the attractive ferny foliage die back. In zones where they are is frost, they are grown outdoors to bloom in spring and summer until it gets very hot.
They can be grown in beds, but they make a particularly fine show as container plants on a deck or terrace. The most ordinary use of Ranunculus species in traditional medicines is anti-rheumatism, intermittent fever, and rubefacient.
The plant-like full sun and need moisture around the roots. But they will rot if drainage is poor around their crowns. They are planted in late fall in warm climates in cool ones they are started indoors two months before the last frost.
Furthermore, all Ranunculus species are poisonous when eaten fresh by horses, cattle, and other livestock, but their acrid taste and the blistering of the mouth caused by their poison means they are generally left uneaten.
Soak the claw-shaped tubers in water for a few hours before planting them. Place them in the soil with the claw facing down. Start with small pots, filled with a light, rich potting soil, and move them up to larger pots as they grow, keeping them cool at night and keeping their soil moist. If you love unusual cut flower displays then Ranunculus is the plant that is best for you, vibrant, exciting, and perfect for making a dramatic impact.
Moreover, bring them outdoors only after the danger of frost has passed. After they stop blooming in summer, let the foliage die down and the rubbers dry out. Therefore, some to have them in the bags of dry peat at about 50 degrees till the planting time.
Even warm climate gardeners dig ranunculus up and store them over the summer. However, buttercups are mostly perpetual, but infrequently annual or biannual, herbaceous, aquatic, or terrestrial plants, habitually with leaves in a rosette at the base of the stem.
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