RANUNCULUS ASIATICUS

The Asiatic Ranunculus, or Garden Ranunculus, exclusively the ranunculus of florists, a native of the Levant, has been cultivated in Europe for almost 300 years. The cultivated varieties are extremely numerous, brilliantly colored, and very symmetrical in form. The ranunculus is propagated by seed, by offset tubers, or by dividing the clusters of tubers. The roots are often taken up in summer, after the leaves die, and kept in a dry place till the beginning of the ensuing winter or spring. The ranunculus loves a free and rich soil. Double-flowered varieties of some other species, with taller stems and smaller white or yellow flowers, are cultivated in flower-gardens, sometimes under the name of Bachelors' Buttons. 
Chambers's Encyclopædia