Species
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Ranunculus asiaticus L.

Asian buttercup, Asiatischer Hahnenfuß (DE); Asiatic Buttercup (EN), Persian buttercup, Persian crowfoot

Climate known 68 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Ranunculus asiaticus, the Persian buttercup, is a species of buttercup (Ranunculus) native to the eastern Mediterranean region, southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ranunculus asiaticus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Ranunculus

Ranunculus is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ranunculus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Ranunculaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Greece, Kriti, Egypt +9
Wild records
1637 in range· 97 open

At a glance

Warmest month
32°C
Aug, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
563mm/yr
5 wet months · peak Jan 139 mm (CHELSA)
Light
18–50DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to February in the northern hemisphere (November to February at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 563 mm a year, wettest January at 139 mm, driest June at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 50 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 3.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cyprianthe anemonoides Spach; Cyprianthe asiatica (L.) Freyn; Ranunculus africanus Voss; Ranunculus asiaticus subsp. latilobus Vierh.; Ranunculus asiaticus subsp. puniceus Dörfl. and 17 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to February in the northern hemisphere (November to February at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (439 mm of 563 mm) falls in November to February, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 13.3 °C against a yearly mean of 19.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to August.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 563 mm a year, wettest January at 139 mm, driest June at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

563 mm a year at the habitat, 439 mm of it November to February. Wettest month January at 139 mm, driest June at 1 mm; 4 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 294 mm to 806 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 50 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 3.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 3.7 °C, the absolute minimum -0.7 °C, 8 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells 4.0 °C to 11.0 °C), warmest day 31.8 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 59% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 15 °C in Jan to 32 °C in Aug; mean night from 7 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 563 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 510 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost38.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 18–50RH 54–59 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 510 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C15 / 12–1715 / 13–1719 / 15–2023 / 18–2527 / 22–2930 / 26–3332 / 28–3532 / 28–3530 / 26–3327 / 23–2921 / 18–2317 / 14–19
Night °C7 / 4–117 / 4–119 / 6–1212 / 9–1516 / 13–1819 / 16–2121 / 18–2422 / 19–2420 / 17–2318 / 14–2013 / 10–169 / 6–13
Rain mm139 / 71–197113 / 58–15966 / 35–9722 / 11–377 / 3–171 / 1–41 / 0–21 / 0–22 / 1–1324 / 11–4874 / 32–120113 / 56–160
DLI19 / 17–2125 / 23–2733 / 32–3541 / 40–4347 / 46–4950 / 50–5249 / 48–5045 / 44–4738 / 37–4029 / 27–3122 / 19–2418 / 15–20
RH %59 / 56–6158 / 55–6057 / 53–5954 / 49–5954 / 47–6054 / 48–6056 / 49–6257 / 51–6257 / 52–6157 / 53–6055 / 53–6058 / 56–61

Each figure is the median across the 510 grid cells holding the 1630 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1161:4300 (31.925, 35.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 510 distinct grid cells holding the 1630 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1161:4300 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.00_35.000, lapse-corrected -24 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 256 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreece, Kriti, Egypt, Libya, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey· introduced: Bolivia
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker31.82, 35.098 · in the densest population, 1358 records (83% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1637 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 97 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 383 km away. 15 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 7 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1637 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ranunculus asiaticusRanunculus asiaticusRanunculus asiaticusRanunculus asiaticusRanunculus asiaticusRanunculus asiaticusRanunculus asiaticusRanunculus asiaticus

Photographs: (c) Marios Thoma, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Elias, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Felicia Seichter, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Ranunculus asiaticus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

RED BOWL-SHAPED FLOWERS: CONVERGENCE FOR BEETLE POLLINATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION
Amots Dafni, Peter Bernhardt, Avi Shmida, Y. Ivri (1990) · Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University)
Fungicidal Activity of Some Common Weed Extracts Against Different Plant Pathogenic Fungi
J. R. Qasem, H. A. Aau‐Blan (1996) · Journal of Phytopathology
Stability of the crude extracts of Ranunculus asiaticus anthocyanins and their use as food colourants
Ayed Amr, Eman Mohamad Rida Al-tamimi (2007) · International Journal of Food Science & Technology
Effects of Supplied Nitrogen Form and Quantity on Growth and Postharvest Quality of Ranunculus asiaticus Flowers
Nirit Bernstein, Marina Ioffe, Moshe Bruner, Yair Nishri (2005) · HortScience
Characterization of Four Viral Species Belonging to the Family Potyviridae Isolated from Ranunculus asiaticus
Massimo Turina, M. Ciuffo, R. Lenzi, L. Rostagno (2006) · Phytopathology
Exogenous Melatonin Application Induced Morpho-Physiological and Biochemical Regulations Conferring Salt Tolerance in Ranunculus asiaticus L.
Eman Abdelhakim Eisa, Péter Honfi, Andrea Tilly-Mándy, Iman Mirmazloum (2023) · Horticulturae
Hypersensitivity of Ranunculus asiaticus to Salinity and Alkaline pH in Irrigation Water in Sand Cultures
Luis Alonso Valdéz-Aguilar, Catherine M. Grieve, J.A. Poss, Michael A. Mellano (2009) · HortScience
Tissue Blot Immunoassay for Detection of Tomato spotted wilt virus in Ranunculus asiaticus and Other Ornamentals
Anna E. Whitfield, Leslie R. Campbell, J. L. Sherwood, Diane E. Ullman (2003) · Plant Disease
Micropropagation of Ranunculus Asiaticus: A Review and Perspectives
Margherita Beruto, Pierre Debergh (2004) · Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC)
Two malonylated anthocyanidin glycosides in Ranunculus asiaticus
Kenjiro Toki, Masakazu Takeuchi, Norio Saitô, Toshio Honda (1996) · Phytochemistry
The role of light quality of photoperiodic lighting on photosynthesis, flowering and metabolic profiling in Ranunculus asiaticus L.
Giuseppe Carlo Modarelli, Carmen Arena, Giuseppe Pesce, Emilia Dell’Aversana (2020) · Physiologia Plantarum

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Ranunculus 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 40 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.