This aquatic buttercup is an entity whose distribution in Italy is still little known, reported with certainty for many regions of Central and Southern Italy, but probably more widespread also in the North. It grows in ditches and swamps, often in brackish waters, from sea level to about 100 m. The species is rare in the central and intermediate belts of the Sardinian temporary ponds. The plant is toxic because of the content of anemonine. 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 comes from the Latin 'pelta' (shield) for the shape of the upper leaves; the subspecies is dedicated to the botanist and magistrate Charles Joseph Auguste de Baudot, who discovered this plant in 1837, when he was procurator of the King in Sarrebourg. Flowering period: April to June.

Italian name(s): Ranuncolo di Baudot (Italia).