''Coptis laciniata'' is a species of flowering plant in the

buttercup family Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium' ...

known by the common name Oregon goldthread. It is native to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

, and northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

on the west coast of the United States, where it grows in wet habitat in the understory of mountain and coastal

coniferous forests Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extan ...

. It is a small perennial herb creeping on a yellow

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external ...

through other vegetation and leaf litter. There are a few leaves on its short stem which are divided into leaflets subdivided into several toothed lobes. The stemlike

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

arises up to 19 centimeters tall from the stem at ground level. Each flower is an array of thin, threadlike petals. Six to 12 fruits arise on short stalks, arranged in a ring. The fruits are shiny, hairless follicles, each roughly a centimeter long.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentFlora of North AmericaPhoto gallery

laciniata ''Anemonoides ranunculoides'' (syn. ''Anemone ranunculoides''), the yellow anemone, yellow wood anemone, or buttercup anemone, is a species of herbaceous perennial plant that grows in forests across Europe to western Asia, and less frequently ...

Flora of Washington (state) Flora of Oregon Flora of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Ranunculales-stub