This buttercup with a wide Eurasian distribution is especially widespread in the regions of Northern and Central Italy. The life-cycle can be spent part in water, part on moist to dry soil. It grows on muddy soils in swamps and marshes, from sea level to (rarely) 2000 m. The species is sporadic in the outer belt of the temporary ponds of Sardinia, in contact with hydric grasslands. The fresh parts are poisonous (protoanemonine). The genus name, the Latin for 'little frog', was used since ancient times only for the aquatic species of the subgenus Batrachion, also a diminutive of the Greek 'batràchos' (frog); the species name in Latin means 'little flame'. Flowering period: June to July.

Italian name(s): Ranuncolo delle passere (Italia), Ranuncolo delle passere (Toscana), Ranuncolo delle pasture (Toscana), Ranuncolo flammula (Italia).