Wildflower (forb) · Ranunculaceae
Pennsylvania buttercup
Ranunculus pensylvanicus
Pennsylvania buttercup is recorded as native to 30 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 402 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Pennsylvania buttercup at a glance
- Native in
- 402 counties, across 30 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 3.9 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Pennsylvania buttercup is recorded as native to 30 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 402 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 402 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 5 counties
- Arizona 4 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Idaho 7 counties
- Illinois 18 counties
- Indiana 12 counties
- Iowa 4 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 7 counties
- Michigan 59 counties
- Minnesota 61 counties
- Montana 3 counties
- Nebraska 12 counties
- New Hampshire 6 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New Mexico 5 counties
- New York 49 counties
- North Dakota 22 counties
- Ohio 23 counties
- Pennsylvania 21 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Dakota 13 counties
- Vermont 9 counties
- Washington 12 counties
- West Virginia 1 county
- Wisconsin 13 counties
- Wyoming 4 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual, Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.9 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 4 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Ranunculaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- RAPE2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Ranunculus pensylvanicus (PLANTS symbol RAPE2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources