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Yellow Water-buttercup

Ranunculus flabellaris

Found in pools in floodplains of small stream swamps, ponds, borrow pits, other stagnant or slowly moving waters. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

59
Strong

Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 82%

Light
Partial shade, Full shade, Full sun
Soil moisture
Moist to standing water
Will it fit your yard?

Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source

Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.

At a glance

Life cycle
Perennial
Bloom
March to July

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Leaves

Height: NC species account not read yet.

Spread and leaves: no source found yet.

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 12 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 3

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
Named place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond
Regional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal pond margins, Florida and Louisiana to North Carolina; state not identified, a neighboring state.Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

All habitats

Also found with this plant

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food. 113 animals.

All wildlife of Virginia

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

7CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Ranunculus

  • Clepsis persicanaWhite Triangle Tortrix
  • Herpetogramma pertextalisBold-Feathered Grass Moth
  • Melanchra adjunctaHitched Arches
  • Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
  • Pyrrhia exprimensPurple-Lined Sallow, Purple-Lined Sun Moth
  • Sparganothis sulfureanaSparganothis Fruitworm Moth, Sulfur Leafroller, False Yellow-Head
  • Sparganothis unifascianaOne-Lined Sparganothis
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
20BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Ranunculus

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
13BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Ranunculus

  • Anthus rubescensAmerican Pipit
  • Bonasa umbellusRuffed Grouse
  • Calcarius lapponicusLapland Longspur
  • Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
  • Centrocercus urophasianusGreater Sage-Grouse
  • Cygnus buccinatorTrumpeter Swan
  • Dendrocygna bicolorFulvous Whistling-Duck
  • Fulica americanaAmerican Coot
  • Lagopus leucuraWhite-tailed Ptarmigan
  • Lagopus mutaRock Ptarmigan
Show all 13
  • Mareca americanaAmerican Wigeon
  • Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
  • Plectrophenax nivalisSnow Bunting
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Ranunculaceae
Flower color
Yellow
Growing sources and scope
  • Bloom · “March to July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Flower color · “Yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Life cycle · “Perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
  • Light · “Partial shade; Full shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Soil · “Moist; Water; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as

Yellow Water Buttercup; Yellow Water Crowfoot

Conservation status

Virginia rankS2
Global rankG5
VA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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Sources