Greater Spearwort - Ranunculus lingua

Description

Medium to tall robust, stoloniferous, hairless plant with erect hollow, scarcely branched stems. Flowers large, bright glossy yellow 3 to 5 cm across. The leaves are variable, with the basal leaves being long stalked and withering early, whilst the stem leaves are short stalked or stalkless, long lanceolate and entire, being narrower at the base.

Similar Species

Lesser Spearwort is similar and much more common, but the size of the flowers of Greater Spearwort make it distinctive.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Marshy ground, fens, pond and stream margins. Often grows in shallow water.

When to see it

Flowers June to September.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Widespread but infrequent in Britain and quite rare in Scotland.

VC55 Status

Not common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 10 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Greater Spearwort
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Ranunculales
Family:
Ranunculaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
29
First record:
21/06/2001 (Jane McPhail;John Kramer)
Last record:
31/07/2022 (Cunningham, Sally)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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