Lesser celandine, (
Ranunculus ficaria, syn.
Ficaria grandiflora Robert
Ficaria verna Huds.William Hudson may refer to:*William Hudson , British botanist*William Hudson , New-Zealand-born head of Snowy Mountains Scheme in Australia*William L...
) is a low-growing, hairless
perennial plantA perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants...
, with fleshy dark green, heart-shaped
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
. The plant is found throughout
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and west
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
and is now introduced in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. It prefers bare, damp ground and in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
it is often a persistent garden weed.The
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s are yellow, turning white as they age.
Ranunculus ficaria exists in both diploid (2n=16) and tetraploid (2n=32) forms which are very similar in appearance.
Lesser celandine, (
Ranunculus ficaria, syn.
Ficaria grandiflora Robert
Ficaria verna Huds.William Hudson may refer to:*William Hudson , British botanist*William Hudson , New-Zealand-born head of Snowy Mountains Scheme in Australia*William L...
) is a low-growing, hairless
perennial plantA perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants...
, with fleshy dark green, heart-shaped
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
. The plant is found throughout
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and west
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
and is now introduced in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. It prefers bare, damp ground and in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
it is often a persistent garden weed.The
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s are yellow, turning white as they age.
Ranunculus ficaria exists in both diploid (2n=16) and tetraploid (2n=32) forms which are very similar in appearance. However, the tetraploid type prefer more shady locations and frequently develops bulbils at the base of the stalk. These two variants are sometimes referred to as distinct sub-species,
R. ficaria ficaria and
R. ficaria bulbifer respectively.
According to the
Oxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language...
,
celandine comes from the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
chelidonia, meaning
swallowThe swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding...
: it was said that the flowers bloomed when the swallows returned and faded when they left.
The name Ranunculus is Late Latin for "little frog," from rana "frog" and a diminutive ending. This probably refers to many species being found near water, like frogs.
Life cycle
According to
Gilbert WhiteGilbert White was a pioneering naturalist and ornithologist.White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
, a diarist writing around 1800 in the Hampshire village of
SelborneSelborne is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is south of Alton. It will be just within the extreme northern boundary of the proposed South Downs National Park, which is due to take effect in mid-2010....
, the plants came out on February 21st, but it is more commonly reported to flower from March until May, and is sometimes called the "spring messenger" as a consequence.
In non-native locations
In many parts of the northern
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, lesser celandine is cited as an
invasive species'Invasive species' is a phrase with several definitions. The first definition expresses the phrase in terms of non-indigenous species that adversely affect the habitats they invade economically, environmentally or ecologically...
.
Medicinal uses
The plant used to be known as
Pilewort, as it was used to treat haemorrhoids. Supposedly the knobbly
tuberTubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to overwinter and regrow the next year and as a means of asexual reproduction. Two different groups of tubers are: stem tubers, and root tubers.- Stem tubers :A stem tuber forms from...
s of the plant resemble piles, and according to the
Doctrine of signaturesThe doctrine of signatures is a philosophy shared by herbalists from the time of Dioscurides and Galen that is still reflected in the common names of some plants whose coincidental shapes and colors reminded the gatherers of such simples of the parts of the body where they could do good: liverwort;...
this resemblance suggests that pilewort could be used to cure piles. The German vernacular
Scharbockskraut (
Scurvywort) derives from the use of the early leaves, which are high in
vitamin CVitamin C or L-ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for humans, in which it functions as a vitamin. Ascorbate is required for a range of essential metabolic reactions in all animals and plants...
, to prevent
scurvyScurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus. Scurvy leads to the formation of spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding...
.