Ranunculus tripartitus
Three-lobed Crowfoot

Ranunculus tripartitus ©Fred Rumsey

A member of the buttercup family, but with small, white, starry flowers.

Like most crowfoots, it has two kinds of leaves; the surface leaves are three-lobed and broad, but the underwater leaves – which are rarely seen with this species – are finely divided and feathery.

It grows in wet mud, ditches and ponds, mainly in south-west England and south Wales. Although still very rare, botanists keep finding it in south-east England in old sites where it was thought to have disappeared.

It is principally threatened by loss of heathland, draining or infilling of pools, and loss of grazing which allows it to be smothered by coarse plants.

Classified as Endangered.