Ranunculus circinatus Fan-leaved Water-crowfoot

A perennial water-crowfoot which prefers slow-flowing, neutral or base-rich water such as canals, ponds and lakes. It is also sometimes found as a prostrate terrestrial form at the edges of lakes when water levels drop. It overwinters as short, vegetative shoots at the bottom of the water body. It is quite a distinctive species whose abundant flowers often carpet the water surface. It doesn't have floating leaves and the normally submerged capillary leaves lie in one plane and are circular or semi-circular in outline (see photo). It has a scattered, mostly souther distribution in Britain but it is rather scarce in Wales. It is very local in West Glamorgan where it occurs in the Tennant Canal (Neath Port Talbot) between Jersey Marine and Aberdulais. Population sizes vary greatly from year to year, sometimes with masses of plants in the vicinity of Red Jacket Pill and Neath town centre, yet scarce in other years.