Ranunculus marginatus d' Urv. (E-Medit.) – A very rare and ephemeral grain alien. Recorded for the first time in 1999 on a railway yard in the port area of Gent. In 2014 seen on several occasions in port areas in Antwerp and Ghent and possibly overlooked. It is much reminiscent of native Ranunculus sardous but has smaller (only 3-4 mm), brighter petals and achenes with a longer, 2-veined beak (up to 1 mm long). It also is much less hairy.
The Belgian collections have smooth achenes and belong with var. marginatus. A form with tuberculate achenes (var. trachycarpus (Fisch. & C.A. Mey.) Azn. has been recorded in the British Isles (Stace 2010) and is more or less established on Scilly (Parslow 2002). Also in the British Isles Ranunculus marginatus is regularly found since the 1990’s as a constituent of sown wild flower seed (Stace l.c.).
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Selected literature:
Hawkins C. (2001) Status of Ranunculus marginatus. BSBI News 88: 54. [available online at: http://archive.bsbi.org.uk/BSBINews88.pdf]
Parslow R. (2002) Comment on the status of Ranunculus marginatus in the Isles of Scilly. BSBI News 90: 21-22. [available online at: http://archive.bsbi.org.uk/BSBINews90.pdf]
Slavikova Z. (1982) Zur Blutenmorphologie einiger Ranunculus Arten von Zypern. Preslia 54(2): 105-113.
Ziffer-Berger J. & Leschner H.V. (2013) New interpretation of the Ranunculus cornutus–R. marginatus complex (Ranunculaceae). Phytotaxa 151(1): 35-43. [available online at: http://biotaxa.org/Phytotaxa/article/view/phytotaxa.151.1.3]
Stace C. (2010) New flora of the British Isles, 3th ed.: XXXII + 1232 p. Cambridge University Press.