ranunculus

British  

/ rəˈnʌŋkjʊləs /

noun

1. any ranunculaceous plant of the genus Ranunculus , having finely divided leaves and typically yellow five-petalled flowers. The genus includes buttercup, crowfoot, spearwort, and lesser celandine

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Etymology

Origin of ranunculus

C16: from Latin: tadpole, from rāna a frog

Example Sentences

Tables were dressed in green linens and had seasonal spring bouquets featuring butterfly ranunculus, phlox, and lily of the valley.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

On March 1, the property alongside I-5 opens for its annual springtime seasonal celebration, with color and scent supplied by 55 acres of ranunculus flowers that typically bloom for six to eight weeks.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2025

Marriott was quoted a price of $250 each for six arrangements from a florist; instead, she spent $550 on several dozen white ranunculus, sweet peas, lisianthus, Queen Anne’s lace, spray roses and large roses.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2024

For a recent breakfast in London, she used silver dessert bowls to anchor spindly arrangements of chocolate cosmos, pink scabiosa, ranunculus and white anemone.

From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2024

The ranunculus glacialis might perhaps, by cultivation, be blanched from its wan and corpse-like paleness to purer white, and won to more branched and lofty development of its ragged leaves.

From Modern Painters Volume II (of V) by Ruskin, John