If you’re wondering “What is that plant that looks like a tall buttercup growing along the roads and in the fields now?”, you’re already halfway to the answer: It’s probably “Tall Buttercup.” Not too hard to remember.
This plant, shown here, is an invasive buttercup that grows from 1 to 3 feet tall and is native to Europe and temperate Eurasia. Its scientific name is Ranunculus acris and some of its other common names are Giant Buttercup, Meadow Buttercup, and Common Buttercup, but it is most commonly called Tall Buttercup.
Tall Buttercup apparently arrived here (perhaps unknowingly) with our earliest European settlers, because there are reports of Native Americans using the plant for medicines: Abenaki and Micmac (or Mi’kmaq) peoples ground and sniffed the plant as a headache remedy, the Cherokee used it for poultices to put on abscesses, and the Iroquois used it in poultices for colds and chest pains, among other uses.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 12 and 20, 2023.)