White Water Buttercup (Ranunculus aquatilis)

Twin Peaks Trail, Mill Creek Wilderness, Ochoco National Forest, OR, 6/2021.

This aquatic buttercup, which is native to most of Europe and western North America and North Africa, was new to us. Dense mats of these delicate yellow-centered white flowers greeted us as we lingered over multiple crossings of Mill Creek on a hot, early summer day. Apparently this flower can have both submerged and above water leaves. While we saw much of the spiny underwater foliage, these specimens did not display the above water “crows-foot” leaves these plants often have. Some references indicate the lack of foliage is not uncommon and may indicate a different variety of the plant, or simply a quick flowing stream.