Ficaria verna
English: Lesser Celandine; Celandine; Pilewort; Fig buttercup.
French: Ficaire.
Synonym: Ranunculus ficaria; Ficaria ranunculoides; Scrophularia minor.
Culture: beggars in England used the scalding juice to burn their feet, to receive sympathy and money.
Region: Europe, west Asia.
Habitat: bare, damp ground; woods, scrub, meadows, by streams, along woodland edges, deeper shade of the woodland; avoiding acid soils; prefers moist loamy neutral to alkaline soil, full sun or shade.
Culture: persistent garden weed; invasive in north America; poisonous, potentially fatal to grazing animals and livestock such as horses, cattle, and sheep.
Ecology: greedy plant, inhibiting the growth of plants, legumes.
Content: toxins, low toxicity, unstable, easily destroyed by heat or by drying.
Use: first young leaves in spring, raw or cooked as salads, spinach, potherb; flower buds as a substitute for capers; bulbils, cooked, as a vegetable; flower petals as an effective tooth cleaner; medicinal; source of materials; ornamental, ground cover.
Botany
Herb; perennial; low-growing, 20 cm tall; hairless; forms dense carpets; poisonous.
Root:
Stem: tubercles, small tubers along the stems grow into a new plant.
Leaves: fleshy, dark green; heart-shaped.
Flowers: bright yellow, glossy petals; closed in dull, dark weather, open in sun in mid day; flowering in March and April.
Pollination: by bees, flies, beetles.
Taxonomy
Ficaria was formerly included in Ranunculus. Ficaria verna was named Ranunculus ficaria.