The globeflower is a buttercup-family wildflower whose bright yellow flowers stay curled into a closed ball. It grows in damp meadows and mountains of Europe and western Asia and is not native to the United States.
Appearance
- Growth form
- Perennial 8–24 in (20–60 cm) tall, usually with unbranched stems.
- Leaves
- Deeply cut into 3–5 toothed lobes, like a hand.
- Flowers
- Flowers about 0.8–1.2 in (2–3 cm) across, one per stem. The showy yellow parts are that curve inward into a globe, hiding small true petals with and many stamens inside.
- Flowering time
- Late spring to summer
- Fruit
- Each flower produces a cluster of small wrinkled pods (follicles).
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Damp meadows
- Stream banks
- Mountain meadows
- Open woodland
- Range
- Native to Europe, mainly central and northern Europe, and east into western Siberia, reaching nearly 10,000 ft (3,000 m) in the mountains. It does not grow wild in the US.
- Preferred conditions
- Prefers ground that stays moist.
Cautions
- Cautions
- Mildly poisonous; grazing livestock avoid it.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
- Status
- Protected in Germany (where it is considered threatened), Austria, Russia, and Bulgaria.
- Threats
- Draining of wet meadows and either abandoning or intensifying traditional hay meadows have made it rarer in lowland Europe.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- It is one of the national symbols of the Republic of Udmurtia in Russia.
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