IDENTIFICATION
Perennial.
A familiar weed with dense foliage and bright yellow, five-petal flowers
borne on long stalks. Each leaf has three parts, with each leaflet either
lobed or divided again. Bottom leaves
have stalks up to 40 cm long, but the leaves become smaller, simpler,
and stalkless towards the top of the stem. Some stems are erect, but each
plant usually has one or more stems that creep along the ground.
DAMAGE
A common weed of grain, forage crops, and turf that depletes the soil
of potassium and other nutrients. Creeping buttercup contains an
acrid juice that causes oral and gastrointestinal inflammations in livestock.
It often grows by and can dominate streams, swamps, ponds, and forest
openings.
HABITAT
This weed is adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions, except prolonged
droughts. It grows along stream banks, ditches, roadsides, lawns, meadows,
pastures, and cultivated crops. It commonly occurs in poorly drained,
disturbed habitats. It is present in the Cariboo, Thompson, Kootenay,
Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island agricultural regions.
SPREAD
The seed is spread by wind, animals, vehicles, and human activities, but
the weed is more easily spread along the ground by forming shoots and
roots at the nodes.
