BUTTERCUP  , a name applied to several

species of the genus Ranunculus (q.v.), characterized by their deeply-cut leaves and yellow, broadly cup-shaped flowers . Ranunculus acris and R. bkdbosus are erect, hairy meadow plants, the latter having the stem swollen at the base, and distinguished also by the furrowed flower-stalks and the often smaller flowers with reflexed, not spreading, sepals . R. repens, common on waste ground, produces long runners by means of which it rapidly covers the ground . The plants are native in the north temperate to arctic zones of the Old World, and have been introduced in America .