Ranunculaceae

Ranunculaceae Juss. or the buttercup family in the order Ranunculales has representatives on all continents but is mostly of northern distribution. A couple of sources list 62 genera and more than 2500 species. They are herbs, climbers, and even small shrubs, some annual and some perennial. There is a great variation in characteristics, but the ones represented on this wiki are for the most part rhizomatous or tuberous. Flowers are mostly regular, but some are irregular and hooded or spurred. Many species have poisonous and/or useful alkaloids. Some older classifications included Paeonia in this family, but this genus is now placed in its own family, Paeoniaceae, which also was moved to the order Saxifragales.