Stems decumbent, sometimes rooting at nodes. Flowers: sepals spreading or reflexed from base. Achene margin 0.1-0.2 mm broad. 2 n = 64.

Flowering spring-summer (Apr-Aug). Swampy woods, marshes, stream banks, ditches; 0-600 m; Man., N.B., Nfld., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Conn., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Vt., Va., Wis.

The name Ranunculus septentrionalis Poiret has often been used for R . hispidus var. caricetorum . The type specimen, however, belongs to var. nitidus (T. Duncan 1980).

This variety is probably not very rare in the lake area of the state but is infrequent south of it. It is usually found in springy and rarely in drier situations. I am following Fernald in considering this a variety of Ranunculus septentrionalis although it seems distinct in characters other than its pubescence. The whole plant is much more robust than its allies, has much larger fruiting heads, longer styles, and the achenes usually average 40-50 per head while the species usually has about 20. I have had the last two species and this variety under cultivation for years. While this treatment was being written during the last of June I visited my colony of this variety and I found plants 5 feet in diameter with an abundance of new plants coming from the nodes. Usually the new plants have 3-5 radical leaves 5-8 inches long and the pubescence on the petioles of all of the leaves from one node is spreading, but sometimes at other nodes some petioles have a spreading pubescence and some have a recurved pubescence toward the base. The main stem above the first node has a sparse spreading pubescence. The plant seems to have the retrorse hereditary factor of the pubescence but a quantitative statement is speculative.