Aconite-leaf buttercup

Ranunculus aconitifolius, the aconite-leaf buttercup or fair-maids-of-France, is a herbaceous perennial of the Ranunculaceae family native to the moist meadows, streamsides, and damp woodland edges of the central European mountains, from the Pyrenees through the Alps to the Carpathians. From a short, branching rhizome the plant grows in clumps to sixty centimetres tall and forty wide, with deeply five-lobed, palmately divided, slightly hairy leaves up to twenty centimetres across that resemble those of monkshood, hence the specific epithet aconitifolius. From late spring through early summer the slender, branching stems carry loose panicles of pure white, saucer-shaped, five-petalled flowers about two centimetres across with a boss of yellow stamens. Like other Ranunculus, the fresh tissues contain the acrid lactone protoanemonin and are irritant to skin and toxic if eaten.