Ranunculus laetus Wall. ex Hook. f. & J.W. ThomsonFamily: Ranunculaceae
Chinese: 黄毛茛, huang mao gen
French: Renoncule bulbeuse
Description: Herbs perennial. Roots fibrous, subequally thick. Rhizomes ca. 2 cm. Stems 22--65 cm, hirsute below, strigose above, branched or simple. Basal leaves 1--3; petiole 4--19 cm, hirsute; blade 3-partite, cordate-pentagonal, 1.2--4.8 × 1.7--7.8 cm, herbaceous, strigose, base cordate, central lobe broadly rhombic, 3-lobed, margin irregularly dentate, apex acute; lateral lobes obliquely flabellate, unequally 2-lobed. Lower stem leaves similar to basal ones but petioles shorter, upper stem leaves subsessile or sessile. Monochasium terminal, (1 or)2--4-flowered; bracts leaflike. Flowers 1--2 cm in diam. Pedicel 1--4.5 cm. Receptacle glabrous. Sepals 5, ovate-elliptic or long elliptic, 3--5 mm, abaxially strigose. Petals 5, broadly obovate, 4.5--10 × 3--7.8 mm, nectary pit covered by a scale, apex rounded-truncate. Stamens numerous; anthers oblong. Aggregate fruit globose or broadly ovoid, 5--6 mm in diam.; carpels numerous. Achene bilaterally compressed, obliquely obovate, ca. 2.2 × 1.8 mm, glabrous, inconspicuously marginate; style persistent, ca. 0.6 mm, slightly recurved at apex. Fl. Jun--Oct.
Plant juice antibacterial, febrifuge, antifungal and antimalarial, used in intermittent fevers, gout and asthma. Paste made from the leaves used for gas troubles and joint pains. [CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants]
70–80 g of fresh leaves are ground daily for 7–8 min; 2–3 tsp (15–25 mL) of water is also added. This paste ( malum ) is applied on infected parts and wounds; 1–2 tsp (12–15 g) of paste (at one time) is applied on infection and covered with cloth; or 2–3 tsp (20–30 g) is applied to wound once per day for 1–2 days. [ Medicinal Plant Biodiversity of Lesser Himalayas-Pakistan]
Published articles of Ranunculus laetus
