Buttercup Family — Ranunculaceae

Sulphur buttercup, Ranunculus sulphureus.

This diverse family, containing 1500 species worldwide, is represented by six genera in the Canadian Arctic. All species contain a colourless, bitter juice and bear alternate or compound leaves. The name "buttercup" originates from the shape of the flower and from an old English children's game that is also familiar to Canadian youth. Children hold a buttercup flower under each other's chins to "see if they like butter"; if it leaves a yellow mark, then the child apparently likes butter. This yellow smudge is, in fact, the pollen.

The largest genus in this family is Ranunculus, of which most arctic species are associated with freshwater environments. However, it is two terrestrial species, sulphur buttercup, R. sulphureus, and snow buttercup, R. nivalis, that are the most striking – their combination of glossy petals and copious stamens make them obvious buttercups. Both are low-growing plants with large, yellow flowers and dark brown hairs on the calyx, a feature that distinguishes them from temperate buttercups. Snow buttercup, as its name suggests, grows near the edge of melting snowbanks, and in wet moss by brooks; sulphur buttercup prefers gravelly tundra. Both species are found throughout the entire Canadian Arctic.


Sulphur buttercup, Ranunculus sulphureus.

The anemones, Anemone spp., are also easy to identify. All species have a trio of leaves that form a ring around the flower stem, while remaining leaves grow from the ground on separate stalks. All anemone flowers lack true petals and it is the petal-like sepals that occur in a variety of colours. The yellow anemone, A. richardsonii, has yellow flowers; the northern anemone, A. parviflora, is white; and the pasque flower, A. patens, boasts bright purple flowers. This latter species is endemic – meaning this is the only place in the world that this species exists – to the Arctic Cordillera region.

Larkspurs, Delphinium spp., are common garden ornamentals in temperate Canada, but two species occur in the Arctic. Glaucous larkspur, D. glaucum, is tall, growing up to 200 cm, and ending in a spike of crowded, blue flowers. Alpine larkspur, D. brachycentrum, is shorter, but has larger flowers. Both species inhabit meadows of the western Low Arctic.

While most members of the buttercup family are only slightly poisonous, monkshood, Aconitum delphiniflorum, can cause death, to anyone or anything, within hours of ingesting any part of the plant. This western low arctic plant has a beneficial side, though; it contains a drug complex called aconite that was once used in modern medicine for the treatment of rheumatism!