The family of buttercups includes many varied in appearance and structure of plants, distributed mainly in countries with temperate and cold climates. They are also found on high mountain pastures. The ranunculaceae family, the general characteristics and description of which are presented below, includes both poisonous plants and medicinal and ornamental plants . Some species are listed in the Red Book.
Buttercup family: general description
The main characteristics of the buttercup family plants relate to external signs and structural features of organs. In particular, perennial herbaceous plants having regular leaves without stipules prevail among the representatives.
The family of buttercups refers to flowers, that is, to flowering plants. Flowers are usually regular, bisexual. Five-type flowers are most common, but there are cases of deviations in the number of sepals and petals. A large number of stamens and pistils are characteristic.
The receptacle connects to the stamens and perianth under the pestle. The mount is free. Corolla perianth can be double or simple, sometimes the petals can turn into nectaries.
The buttercup family is characterized by cross-pollination. Self-pollination is a rare occurrence. Type of fruit - achene or leaflet.
Spread
Buttercups grow almost everywhere. Meadows, fields, forests - all these are the habitats of the family. Many buttercups have toxic properties. They can harm the digestive, circulatory system of both humans and animals. The characteristic signs of poisoning are vomiting, loose stools, colic, cramps, slowing of the pulse. If the animal eats too many buttercups, it can lead to death, which occurs 6-12 hours after the appearance of seizures. It is important that when dried, the toxic properties are lost.
Value
The family of buttercups is quite numerous, and some plants are highly valued in horticulture (peony, aconite, clematis). Among the representatives there are also medicinal plants, for example, spring adonis, which is used in the treatment of heart diseases. One of the earliest spring flowers is a golden buttercup, and in the meadows you can find a creeping buttercup.
The genus of buttercups is the most numerous
This genus essentially constitutes almost the entire ranunculaceae family. Representatives of the genus are very numerous - more than 300 species. Golden corollas gleam in the sun, as if smeared with butter, which attracts the attention of many inhabitants of the meadows. Despite the external beauty, most types of buttercups are weeds. And very resilient. In the fight against them, meadow farmers are in an obvious loser. These plants demonstrate an example of incredible resistance and adaptability to environmental conditions. For example, in the Faroe Islands, where torrential rains continuously occur, the buttercup adapted to pollination without the participation of insects. Their absence there did not become an obstacle to the widespread distribution of these plants.
It is easy to answer the question about the morphological classification of the genus buttercup. What family he makes up can be understood by his name. In colloquial speech, this name is used to many plants, even belonging to other genera, but having typical characteristics of the family.
Acid buttercup
It is a meadow weed blooming in spring. It can be found in the meadows until late autumn. The height of the shoots can vary greatly, it varies from 20 cm to 60 cm.
The most typical representative of the family is the caustic buttercup. The plant family, although very diverse, but this species is most closely approximated, from an evolutionary point of view, to the ancient ancestors.
Leaves are deep-palmate, have rhombic lobes. The lower ones are attached to long petioles, and the upper ones to short petioles.
Upright stems are characterized by the presence of pinned hairs and single flowers located at the ends of branches. There are no grooves on the pedicels, but there are soft hairs. Flower of the quintuple type. The calyx is green leafy, and the free petals are bright yellow. At the base of each of the petals is a honey gland, which is covered by a scale.
One of the most dangerous plants for livestock is caustic buttercup. The family includes other poisonous species, but due to the widespread distribution of caustic buttercup, it is this plant that most often causes poisoning of domestic animals.
Field wildlife
Speaking of field liveliness , they use several names: horned cornflower, coconut.
It grows, as a rule, among winter crops, less often - among spring crops. Accumulations of liveliness can also be found in steam fields.
The flower is irregular, blue-violet, with spurs. They are located on the stem in the form of a rare branchy brush. Perianth is represented by two colored sepals and two petals. Pollination is cross, with the participation of insects having long proboscis. With their help, they get nectar from the spur. The stem branches, can reach a height of 30 cm. Leaves ternary dissected with linear lobes. The fruit is a leaflet. Seeds have a dark gray color, can reach a length of 2-5 mm. Outside they are covered with thin scales. They have a bitter taste and toxic properties. Cases of poisoning by liveliness are common in sheep.
Lumbago
The characteristics of plants of the genus cross-chamber prove how diverse the buttercup family is. Its representatives can be both weeds (buttercup), and rare plants (backache). From the first they do not know how to get rid, and the second do not know how to save. Lumbago appears in early spring, as soon as the snow melts. Hence the second name - snowdrop. First, a large flower of tender purple or yellow in the shape of a goblet begins to rise above the ground. It is so close to the surface that it can be very difficult to rip it off. The entire fragile plant is shrouded in a cover, which is formed by numerous soft hairs. This helps protect the delicate body from the cold. Day by day, the leg on which the flower is located is stretched more and more. Leaves appear much later. The vitality of the flower is supported by last year's reserves, which are scooped by a powerful, strong, like a piece of wood, root hidden in the ground.
Backache needs protection
Lumbago has become so rare in many European countries that its ecological value can be compared with that of the tiger in India. Lumbago is included there in the Red Book. On the territory of Siberia there is still a lot of lumbago. In order to keep its numbers high, ecologists took up its demography. The age of each plant within the experimental group was calculated, subgroups of young and elderly were identified. The results of the study were very disappointing. The prevalence of old individuals over young was prevailing. The explanation for this fact can be very different. Perhaps the reason for this is the small number of pollinating insects during the early spring. As a result of this, the flowers are not pollinated enough, which is why the number of fruits is reduced. According to another version, the red background of last year's grass does not create a very rainbow-like picture, but the violet inclusions of the flowers lumbago, apparently, are so pleasing to the citizens' eyes that they want to take a piece of this joy to their home. The happy feature, which consists in the late formation of leaves, does not allow “decapitated plants” to die, but they no longer form fruits. Thus, replenishment of the ranks of young animals does not occur. The number of old plants is increasing.
Flower lumbago correct. That is, cutting it into two parts, you always get two symmetrical halves.
The mystery of the neighborhood lumbago and pine
The family of buttercups, and in particular the genus cross, became the object of study for the geobotanist I. Ilyinskaya. She successfully unraveled the secret of the constant neighborhood of lumbago with pine. It turns out that the fragile snowdrop is the protector of tall pine. I. Ilyinskaya conducted her research in the forest-steppe. From tall trees, pine seeds are carried away by the wind into the steppe zone, where it is very difficult to take root. Most young shoots die from the burning sun and the onslaught of steppe grassy vegetation. But there are unusual sections in the steppe where young pines flaunt in the middle of the bare steppe. They were saved from the sun and from the onslaught of herbs. And the bushes of the lumbago helped them, which, like a miniature palm grove, formed a shadow, so necessary for young shoots of pine. Having strengthened, the pine outgrows its protector. This is how pines gradually displace steppe virgin soil.
Aconite
Aconite flowers are irregular. One of the petals has grown so much that it has become much larger than the others. It is like a helmet, so in some countries it is called the “monk's hood”. There are 60 species in the aconite genus. All of them are plants of the northern hemisphere. The family of buttercups, as you know, is characterized by a bright color of the flowers. Aconite is another confirmation of this. In the steppe, the characteristic color is yellow, in the taiga - blue and purple. The height of the shoots in the humid middle mountains, where due to the large amount of snow the soil does not freeze, can reach 2-3 meters. Then you can look at it only from the bottom up. Aconite thickets, like a thick spruce, dark and raw. This darkness prevents other plants from developing. The soil is covered with fallen leaves of aconite. The stalk at the top ends with a huge brush-garland of helmet-shaped flowers: from below they are large, blossomed, and above - even buds. Reliability of procreation is provided by different seed ripening times.
Gardening has long appreciated the beauty of aconite. Hunters in the Himalayas use poisonous aconite tubers, replacing curare. The aboveground part is also poisonous, so you can not leave a large bouquet in the room for a long time. The presence of poison in plants is a guarantee of their safety, protection from eating herbivores. But there is an exception among the representatives of the fauna. Greens aconite loves to feast on a pika (a rodent similar to a gopher). In summer, pikas cut aconite stems to the very root, as if lumberjacks are felling trees. These are their winter preparations. The insects gnaw through stems, from which they are then made snopiki.
Adonis
The healing herb of the buttercup family is adonis. He very subtly adapts to the conditions of the surrounding reality, sensitively reacting to any disturbances in nature introduced by man. Campion is a resident of the steppes, which causes a small height of plants (no more than 50 cm). The leaves are typical of the habitat - with narrow segments, almost threadlike, like a carrot. The flower is magnificent, golden color. The number of petals varies from 15 to 20 pieces, there are many stamens and pistils. Flowers are used in pharmacology. They serve as raw materials for the manufacture of heart drops. But the steppes open up, and the amount of adonis decreases. They tried to grow him in the garden, but, alas, he did not take root there. Therefore, sections of the steppe where the adonis is preserved, must be carefully guarded.
The characterization of the ranunculaceae family would be incomplete without indicating its diversity. The number of genera in this family reaches fifty, and the species - more than 2000. Mostly these are herbs, in rare cases, shrubs. The wood structure (secondary) is characteristic of only a few species.