ra·nun·cu·lus 
(rə-nŭngkyə-ləs)
(rə-nŭngkyə-ləs)n. pl. ra·nun·cu·lus·es or ra·nun·cu·li (-lī′)
Any of numerous plants of the genus Ranunculus, having yellow or white usually five-petaled flowers, and including the buttercups and the crowfoots.
[New Latin Rānunculus, genus name, from Latin rānunculus, a kind of medicinal plant, diminutive of rāna, frog, perhaps of imitative origin.]