Spring has arrived and the familiar signs are here – Daffodils in flower, Toads spawning and the first Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Swallows. Amongst the characteristic signs of spring is one of my favourite wild flowers, the Lesser Celandine, Ficaria verna. (I have to remember not to call it by its previous scientific name, Ranunculus ficaria.)

The Lesser Celandine grows in woodland and grassland, including meadows and hedge banks. It is also at home in damp places and gardens. Its starry buttercup-yellow flowers open in bright sunshine and spread cheer as they bloom, from as early as February (although not this year) until early May. The leaves are dark green, shiny and heart-shaped, sometimes with light or dark mottling.

The name Celandine is shared with the Greater Celandine, Chelidonium majus. It is derived from the Greek chelidon meaning Swallow. The Lesser Celandine is usually in flower a month or two before Swallows arrive, while the Greater Celandine blooms later, but both the flowers and the birds are heralds of Spring. Both plants are perennials but are not closely related. Lesser Celandine is a member of the Buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, while the Greater Celandine is in the Poppy family, Papaveraceae.

Other names for Lesser Celandine include: Pilewort, Spring Messenger, Small Celandine, Smallwort, Brighteye and Butter and Cheese. The Gaelic name is Grianne, which means sun, and is very apt.

The name Pilewort comes from the plant’s use in treating haemorrhoids (piles). The Doctrine of Signatures decreed that plants had been ‘signed’ by God with a physical clue to their medicinal properties and the knobbly tubers of Lesser Celandine suggested that the plant might cure piles.

Lesser Celandine can spread very easily in the right conditions, such as our back garden, which has lots of damp corners that suit the plant, as well as a couple of gardeners sympathetic to its cause. It spreads both by seed and by its tubers, which are easily spread when the soil is cultivated. The RHS website lists control methods, such as mulching. Weeding with care, putting any tubers in the green waste collection rather than the compost heap, will do the job as well. (I would never use herbicides.)

Ficaria verna “Brazen Hussy” is a less invasive garden variety with blackish-bronze leaves that contrast well with the bright yellow flowers.

Ranunculus ficaria “Brazen Hussy” at Great Dixter.

The Hedgerowmobile and Herb Society websites list medicinal uses for the plant, including the treatment of scurvy. The young leaves have high levels of vitamin C but the plant also contains the toxin protoanemonin (like other members of the Ranunculaceae), which can cause itching, rashes or blistering on contact with the skin or mucous membranes (such as the lips). As the plants flower, levels of protoanemonin increase and large doses can lead to nausea, vomiting, dizziness, spasms or even paralysis.

Cooking destroys protoanemonin so it is possible to eat Lesser Celandine leaves, cooked, in recipes such as Lesser Celandine and Ground Ivy Stew (which I haven’t tried), although some of the vitamin C will be degraded by cooking.

William Wordsworth was a great fan of the Lesser Celandine and wrote three poems to the little flower with the “glittering countenance”.

“Pansies, Lilies, Kingcups, Daisies,
Let them live upon their praises;
Long as there’s a sun that sets
Primroses will have their glory;
Long as there are Violets,
They will have a place in story:
There’s a flower that shall be mine,
‘Tis the little Celandine.”

(… from “To the Small Celandine“)

Unfortunately,if you visit his monument at Grasmere in the Lake District you will see the Greater Celandine, carved in error, rather than his favourite flower.

This lovely flower continues to inspire writers and more recently, Paul Evans has captured the spirit of the Lesser Celandine in his beautiful prose in a Country Diary entry from Wenlock Edge.