Greater Spearwort

Foodplant / open feeder
adult of Donacia aquatica grazes on windowed leaf (upper surface) of Ranunculus lingua
Remarks: season: 5-7(-10)

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
Erysiphe aquilegiae var. ranunculi parasitises Ranunculus lingua

Foodplant / miner
larva of Phytomyza ranunculi mines leaf of Ranunculus lingua

Foodplant / spot causer
hypophyllous, in small groups aecium of Puccinia magnusiana causes spots on live leaf of Ranunculus lingua

Foodplant / spot causer
amphigenous, but mainly epiphyllous colony of Ramularia anamorph of Ramularia didyma var. didyma causes spots on live leaf of Ranunculus lingua

Herbs perennial. Stems ca. 75 cm, to 10 mm thick, strigose, few branched above, rooting near base. Basal leaf withering at anthesis. Lower stem leaves with petiole short, ca. 1.5 cm; blade linear-lanceolate, 10--15 × 0.7--2 cm, papery, appressed puberulent, base attenuate or rounded, margin entire, sparsely glandular. Upper stem leaves sessile. Compound monochasium terminal, corymbose, 3- or 4-flowered; bracts leaflike. Flowers 2.7--3.8 cm in diam. Pedicel 2--13.5 cm. Receptacle glabrous. Sepals 5, elliptic-ovate, ca. 7 mm, abaxially appressed puberulent. Petals 5, flabellate-obovate, 17--20 × 14--17 mm, nectary pit without a scale, apex truncate, often emarginate. Stamens numerous; anthers oblong. Aggregate fruit broadly ovoid, ca. 9 mm in diam. Achene obliquely obovoid, 2--3 × 1.5--1.8 mm, glabrous; style persistent, very short.

C Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia (Siberia); Europe].

Ranunculus lingua, the greater spearwort, great spearwort, tongue-leaved crowfoot, or water buttercup, is a plant species in the family Ranunculaceae native to temperate areas of Europe, Siberia and through to the western Himalayas. It is a semiaquatic plant that prefers to grow in about 40 cm (16 in) of water in a variety of wetland habitats. A cultivar (or perhaps a traditional variety) called 'Grandiflorus', the large-flowered greater spearwort, has 6 cm flowers and is favored by gardeners.

In a garden setting