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Ficaria verna
Also called Fig Buttercup, Pilewort, Fig Root Buttercup, Marsh Pilewort, Ficver
Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) is a low, hairless perennial wildflower with glossy yellow flowers and heart-shaped leaves that spreads by tubers and stolons. It thrives in moist, shaded woodland and damp grassland, and can become invasive where introduced.
Ficaria verna (formerly Ranunculus ficaria L.), commonly known as lesser celandine or pilewort, is a low-growing, hairless perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It has fleshy dark green, heart-shaped leaves and distinctive flowers with bright yellow, glossy petals. Native to Europe and Western Asia, it is now introduced in North America, where it is known by the common name fig buttercup and considered an invasive species. The plant is poisonous if ingested raw and potentially fatal to grazing animals and livestock, such as horses, cattle, and sheep. For these reasons, several US states have banned the plant or listed it as a noxious weed.
All plants of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) contain a compound known as protoanemonin. When the plant is wounded, the unstable glucoside ranunculin turns into the toxin protoanemonin. Contact with damaged or crushed Ficaria leaves can cause itching, rashes or blistering on the skin or mucosa. Ingesting the toxin can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, spasms, or paralysis. In one case, a patient experienced acute hepatitis and jaundice when taking untreated lesser celandine extracts internally as an herbal remedy for hemorrhoids.
Ficaria verna sensu lato is native to central Europe, north Africa and the Caucasus. It has been introduced into Iceland and North America.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ficaria verna by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
