Lesser celandine  (Ranunculus ficaria)

Learn about the scientific name of this species and how it fits into the tree of life at Nature Navigator.

Description

As the local name ‘spring messenger’ suggests, lesser celandine is one of the first flowers of the year (4). Its bright buttery yellow flowers are a cheering sight in the middle of February, brightening hedgerows and woodlands alike (5). The roughly heart-shaped leaves, which appear just before the flowers, are dark green, shiny and fleshy, and are often mottled with patches of darker green (2). The plant grows from root-tubers, which are said to look like bunches of figs. This explains the scientific name of the plant, ficaria, which is Latin for fig. Another alternative name of this celandine, pilewort, also derives from the appearance of these knobbly tubers. Their general similarity to haemorrhoids led to the plant being widely used to treat this condition (4). There are two native subspecies in Britain, Ranunculus ficaria ficaria and Ranunculus ficaria bulbifer . The latter bears tuberous bulb-like structures known as ‘bulbils’ at the points where the leaf stalks meet the main stem of the plant (3).

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