Sacha wrote:
*I'll stick my neck out and suggest they may be
Ranunculus. *Wincing as I press send button .... *ooouc...

! Which one, David? *I always think of those rather nice 'fat' ones
with large petals when I think of Ranunculus.

I've seen variants of the hybrid R. asiaticum with narrow petals
although they weren't as full as those in the pic. Maybe it isn't,
but I've had a look at the calyx arrangement of several Dahlias since
my last post and at no stage stage do the sepals appear free and open
out as in the pic. They overlap to form a tube at the base of the
petals and because of that I cannot see how those in the pic can be
Dahlias, even if the petals suggest they are.