The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Adonis vernalis
Also called False hellebore, Pheasant's eye, Yellow pheasant's eye, Yellow pheasants-eye, Spring Adonis, Yellow Adonis, Oxeye
Adonis vernalis, known variously as yellow pheasant's eye, pheasant's eye, spring pheasant's eye, and false hellebore, is a perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is found in dry meadows and steppes in Eurasia. More specifically, this plant grows in a wide range of locations which include open forests, forest clearings, dry meadows, mesic steppe, and mostly calcareous soil. Isolated populations are found from Spain in the west across Central Europe with fine examples in Valais, Switzerland, and southern Europe, reaching southern Sweden in the north and Abruzzo in the south, with its main area of distribution being the Pannonian Basin and the West Siberian Plain. In contrast to most other European Adonis species, the flowers appear in springtime, and are up to 80 mm (3.1 in) in diameter, with up to 20 bright yellow petals.
Adonis vernalis contains cardiac glycosides that improve the cardiac efficiency by increasing its output and reducing heart rate. These glycosides also have a sedative effect and are often prescribed to patients whose hearts are beating irregularly or at an increased rate. Tinctures of Adonis vernalis are also used by homeopathic physicians in patients that are suffering from congestive cardiac failure and its action is very similar to digitalis (another drug that stimulates the heart muscle). Aqueous extracts of Adonis vernalis were found to have cardiac stimulant effects on isolated heart preparations and it also showed that production of excessive and high potassium concentrations protects against heart failure. The plant also contains some flavones with pharmacological activities, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, neuro and cardioprotective, and anti-allergic properties.
Summer pheasant's eye · Amur Adonis · Blooddrops · Adonis cyllenea · Large Pheasant's Eye · Pheasant's Eye · Adonis pyrenaica · Adonis volgensis · Pheasant's eye
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Adonis vernalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
