Ficaria verna - Lesser celandine
To look at lesser celandine, you’d have thought that this cheerful little flower said to be the ‘spring messenger’ as one of its common names suggests, would be uncomplicated and its message simple.
Nothing could be further from the truth. For Ficaria verna, one of approximately 700 plants in the Ranunculus family, being renamed in 2010 and formerly known as Ranunculus ficaria L. It seems, is just the start of the confusion that seems to surround this plant.
For a start there are two very similar plants, Ficaria verna ssp fertilis, the ’true’ lesser celandine formerly named Ranunculus ficaria ssp ficaria and Ficaria verna ssp verna formerly known as Ranunculus ficaria ssp bulbilifer, a subspecies of lesser celandine that has bulbils that break off and arguably spreads wider than the bulbil less form, these little tubers are where the plant gets its other common name pilewort from. It is thought that the bulbil subspecies is under-recorded because the bulbils are not straightforward to spot. Simple right?
On top of that celandine comes from the Greek word chelidon which refers to the bird swallow. There is some dispute as to whether this name refers to lesser celandine as it has usually been in flower for a while before the return of the swallows. It could be that lesser celandine is a sign of spring as is the swallow, but also that lesser celandine was confused with greater celandine Chelidonium majus whose other common name is swallow wort.
Lesser celandine Ficaria verna, found in woods, on hedge banks, in meadows and on roadsides, likes damp soil that’s not too acidic. The flower has a charming habit of closing its petals before rainfall, so in folklore it is said to predict the weather.
Ficaria verna is host to the leaf mining larvae of two flies that can only feed on a few plants from the ranunculus family and two beetles including the jewel beetle Anthaxia nitidula.
Is a host plant also to one of the rarest of Britain’s butterflies, the heath fritillary Melitaea athalia and six moths including the charismatic Yellow shell Camptogramma bilineata.
