Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family)
Ranunculaceae has few obvious traits that distinguish it: the plants are usually herbaceous (lacking a woody stem), the flowers have numerous stamens, and either many pistils that develop into single-seed fruit or a few separate pistils that develop into many-seeded fruits.
When both sepals and petals are present, there are usually 5, but sometimes 4, and sometimes no petals, but brightly colored sepals; the petals may have spurs that run between the sepals (as with columbines), or only some petals with spurs that run into the sepals (as in delphiniums).
Some species have separate staminate and pistillate flowers, some do not, and even if they do, some flowers develop both sexes. This is awful clear, isn't it? But the basic combination of numerous stamens with a few or many separate pistils is uncommon anywhere outside this Family.
