I believe it's a Ranunculus sp., possibly Ranunculus scleratus.

yes its ranunculus but abgardeneer obviously knows ranunculus better than i do to suggest a species : )

they are quite poisonous so be careful if you have pets or small children in the garden area

Anemone berlandieri or similar Native Wildflower.

Here is a link that might be useful: Anemone berlandieri

Oh, very interesting possibility! Please let us know what it looks like when it opens.

To someone who had no idea, it's impressive how all immediately honed in on the buttercup family. Will post a follow-up when it blooms.

My money is on Saltcedar's reply.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:184945}}

Mine too but it will be nice to see in flower for confirmation, or in any case!

Bostedo, I think that's the non-columbine that I've had in my backyard this spring.

A flower finally opened today. Looks like Saltcedar nailed it. The "bud" in the original photo had me confused since it was actually the fruit. Apparently this one sets flowers low before raising the fruit up on the stem, so must have missed the first blossom in the tall grass.

Thanks for the answer.... now what to do with it? Guess I'll move it to the "plant hospital" and see how it does while the St. Augustine reclaims the hole in the lawn. Not very showy, but an interesting little native perennial.

Here is a link that might be useful: Habit of anemone berlandieri by utexas

This post was edited by bostedo on Thu, Apr 25, 13 at 15:27

It's fairly weedy so you might want to think twice about encouraging it.

Saltcedar: Thanks for the warning - I'm guessing it's similar to the native ruellias. Is that right? These can be a pain in a cultivated bed (with anything else), but are manageable in our alley of misfit plants.