A reasonably critical look at buttercups

A review of "Flora Nordica, Vol 2"

This is the second volume of a potentially never-ending work the goal of which is to describe all species of vascular plants found in Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Svalbard. Only two volumes have been published so far by the Bergius Foundation, with grants from various obscure “royal” institutions, and nobody knows how or when the project will continue. That being said, this second volume of what is essentially a scientific reference work was probably greeted with elation by Scandinavian botanists. It includes a number of families of flowery plants not included in Hylander's classical work “Nordisk kärlväxtflora” (1953/1966). Thus, this is the first time the Nordic species of these particular families (including goosefoot, fumewort and buttercup) receive “an even reasonably modern critical treatment”. Imagine that! If fairly advanced scientific analysis of buttercups is your cup of butter, definitely a must have.