Participant Info

Species

Ranunculus hyperboreus

Family

Ranunculaceae

CommonName

high northern buttercu0p, arctic buttercup

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1937

LatestDate

2022

Ecosystem

aquatic, montane, subalpine

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans

Counties

Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan

Passes

WildlifePreserves

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, Million Reservoir SW of South Fork 26 Aug 2018; Saguache Co, natural pond W of Luders Creek cpgd 22 Aug 2022

Comments

There are no records of Ranunculus hyperboreus from the Cristos—nor any from New Mexico. Even on the west side of the Watershed, this aquatic buttercup is not often found. One of the latest (12 July 2020) is from Willow Creek above Creede (Mineral Co, iNaturalist observation 155200961). Its habitat is water at the edge of lakes and ponds, or in backwater of streams. The west side of the Watershed is on the southern edge of this buttercup’s USA distribution, which is confined to scattered locations in the Rocky Mountains up to the Canadian border. The Watershed occurrences are the only ones in the entire Rio Grande drainage.

Annotation