Ficaria verna

For the greater celandine, see Chelidonium.
Lesser celandine
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Genus: Ficaria
Species: F. ficaria
Binomial name
Ficaria verna
Huds. 1762[1][2]
Synonyms[1]

Ficaria verna, (formerly Ranunculus ficaria L.) commonly known as lesser celandine,[3] is a low-growing, hairless perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae native to Europe and west Asia. It has fleshy dark green, heart-shaped leaves and distinctive flowers with bright yellow, glossy petals.[4] It is now introduced in North America, where it is known by the common name fig buttercup and considered an invasive species.[5][6][7][8] The plant is poisonous if ingested raw and potentially fatal to grazing animals and livestock such as horses, cattle, and sheep.[9] For these reasons, several US states have banned the plant or listed it as a Noxious weed.[6][10] It prefers bare, damp ground and is considered by horticulturalists in the United Kingdom as a persistent garden weed.[11][12] Emerging in late winter with flowers appearing March through May, it's appearance across the landscape is regarded by many as a harbinger of Spring.[11]

Life cycle

The emergence of Ficaria verna flowers across a landscape is seen by many as one of the first signs of Spring.

Lesser celandine grows on land that is seasonally wet or flooded, especially in sandy soils, but is not found in permanently waterlogged sites.[13] In both shaded woodlands and open areas, Ficaria verna begins growth in the winter when temperatures are low and days are short.[14] The plants mostly propagate and spread vegetatively,[15] although some subspecies are capable of producing up to 73 seeds per flower.[11] Germination of seeds begins in the spring, and continues into summer.[11] Seedlings remain small for their first year, producing only one or two leaves until the second year.[11]

Growth and reproduction is poor in dry or acidic conditions, though the plants can handle drought well once dormant.[11] By emerging before the forest canopy leafs out, Ficaria verna is able to take advantage of the higher levels of sunlight reaching the forest floor during late winter and early spring.[4] By late spring, second year plants quickly age with as daylight hours lengthen and temperatures rise.[11] By the end of May, foliage has died back and plants enter a six month dormancy phase.[15]

If disturbed, separation of the plant's numerous basal tubers is an efficient means of vegetative propagation.[14] The plants are easily spread if the prolific tubers are unearthed and scattered by digging activities of some animals and humans.[4][11] Erosion and flood events are particularly effective means of spread, as the plants are very successful at colonizing low-lying floodplains once deposited.[14][16]

Typical root tubers of Ficaria verna. These structures separate easily and can become new plants, allowing the plant to colonize new areas rapidly.

Ficaria verna exists in both diploid (2n=16) and tetraploid (2n=32) forms which are very similar in appearance.[11] However, the tetraploid type prefer more shady locations and can develops up to 24 bulbils at the base of the stalk.[11][15] Subspecies F. verna bulbilifera, F. verna chrysocephalus, and F. verna ficariiformis are tetraploid and capable of colonizing new areas much faster because of bulbil production.[15] Subspecies F. verna calthifolia and F. verna verna are diploid[9][17] and hybrids between subspecies often create sterile triploid forms.[9]

Ecology as an invasive species

In many parts of the Eastern and Northwestern United States and Canada, lesser celandine is cited as an invasive species.[13] It poses a threat to native wildflowers, especially those ephemeral flowers with a spring-flowering lifecycle.[14] Since Ficaria verna emerges well before most native species, it has a developmental advantage which allows it to establish and dominate natural areas rapidly.[4] It is mainly a problem in forested floodplains, where it forms extensive mats, but can occur on upland sites as well.[4] Once established, native plants are displaced and ground is left barren and susceptible to erosion, from June to February, during the plant's six-month dormancy phase.[18]

In the United States, where lesser celandine is considered a plant pest to gardens, lawns, and natural areas, many governmental agencies have made great effort attempting to slow the spread of this species with limited success.[8] As of 2014, the species was reported to be invasive and established in 25 states.[19] USDA APHIS considers Ficaria verna to be a high risk weed which could spread across 79 percent of the United States, anticipating possible impacts to Threatened and Endangered riparian species.[8] The U.S. National Park Service's Plant Conservation Alliance recommends avoiding planting lesser celandine, and instead planting native ephemeral wildflowers such as Asarum canadense, bloodroot, the native twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla), and various species of trillium as alternatives.[4]

As an invasive species: Ficaria verna forms a dense carpet in a floodplain forest in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania

Toxicity

All plants of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) contain a compound known as Protoanemonin[20] When the plant is wounded, the unstable glucoside ranunculin turns into the toxin Protoanemonin. Contact with damaged or crushed Ficaria leaves can causes itching, rashes or blistering on the skin or mucosa. Ingesting the toxin can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, spasms, or paralysis.[21] In one case, a patient experienced acute hepatitis and jaundice when taking untreated lesser celandine extracts internally as an herbal remedy for hemorrhoids.[22]

Treatment

It has been documented that through drying of these plants, the protoanemonin toxin dimerizes to non-toxic anemonin, which is further hydrolyzed to non-toxic carboxylic acid.[23][24] Cooking of the plants is also documented to eliminate the toxicity of the plants and records show the plant has been incorporated in diets or herbal medicine after being dried, and ground for flour, or boiled and consumed as a vegetable.[13][24][25]

The striking yellow flowers of Ficaria verna are well admired by many.

Historical herbal use

Illustration

The plant is known as pilewort by some herbalists because it has historically been used to treat piles (hemorrhoids).[26][27] Lesser celandine is still recommended in several "current" herbal guides for treatment of hemorrhoids by applying an ointment of raw leaves as a cream or lanolin to the affected area.[13][27][28] Supposedly, the knobby tubers of the plant resemble piles, and according to the doctrine of signatures this resemblance suggests that pilewort could be used to cure piles.[29]

The German vernacular skorbutkraut ("scurvy herb") derives from the use of young leaves, which are high in vitamin C, to prevent scurvy.[13][30] However, use of lesser celandine to prevent scurvy could be considered a misnomer, tied to it's similar appearance to common scurvygrass (Cochlearia officinalis), which shares similarly shaped leaves as well as sharing the german name skorbutkraut.[31] The German Hager's Manual of pharmacy practice of 1900 states Ranunculus ficaria [sic] and C. officinalis both share this name and use,[31] though there was little documentation of the toxicity of untreated Ficaria species at the time.

Most guides today point out that medicines should be made from the dried herb or by heat extraction as the untreated plants and extracts will contain protoanemonin, a mild toxin.[26][27] The plant has been widely used in Russia and is sold in most pharmacies as a dried herb.[32] The protoanemonin found in fresh leaves is an irritant and mildly toxic but is suggested to have antibacterial properties if used externally.[26] The process of heating or drying turns the Ranunculaceae toxin to anemonin which is non-toxic and may have antispasmodic and analgesic properties.[26]

You are likely to see this species while hiking in many natural areas.

References in literature

The poet William Wordsworth was very fond of the flower and it inspired him to write three poems including the following from his ode to the celandine:

I have seen thee, high and low,
Thirty years or more, and yet
T'was a face I did not know.

Upon Wordsworth's death it was proposed that a celandine be carved on his memorial plaque inside St Oswald's Church, Grasmere, but unfortunately the greater celandine Chelidonium majus was mistakenly used.[33]

Edward Thomas wrote a poem entitled "Celadine." Encountering the flower in a field, the narrator is reminded of a past love, now dead.

C. S. Lewis mentions celandines in a key passage of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Aslan comes to Narnia and the whole wood passes "in a few hours or so from January to May". The children notice "wonderful things happening. Coming suddenly round a corner into a glade of silver birch trees Edmund saw the ground covered in all directions with little yellow flowers - celandines".[34]

D. H. Lawrence mentions celandines frequently in Sons and Lovers. They appear to be a favorite of the protagonist, Paul Morrel;

"...going down the hedgeside with the girl, he noticed the celandines, scalloped splashes of gold, on the side of the ditch. 'I like them' he said 'when their petals go flat back with the sunshine. They seem to be pressing themselves at the sun.'

And then the celandines ever after drew her with a little spell."[35]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Ficaria verna". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 February 2016 – via The Plant List.
  2. ↑ "Ficaria verna". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "BSBI List 2007". Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Swearingen, J., K. Reshetiloff, B. Slattery, and S. Zwicker (2002). "Lesser Celandine". Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C.
  5. ↑ "Weed of the Week - Lesser Celandine". University of Maryland Extension. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  6. 1 2 "Lesser celandine, Ficaria verna". Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "Ranunculus ficaria". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 "Weed Risk Assessment for Ficaria verna Huds (Ranunculaceae) – Fig buttercup" (PDF). Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. United States Department of Agriculture. August 12, 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Post, Angela R.; Krings, Alexander; Wall, Wade A.; Neal, Joseph C. (2009-01-01). "Introduced Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus Ficaria, Ranunculaceae) And Its Putative Subspecies In The United States: A Morphometric Analysis". Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 3 (1): 193–209.
  10. ↑ "6 NYCRR Part 575 Prohibited and Regulated Invasive Species Express Terms - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation". www.dec.ny.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bond, W; Davies, G; Turner, R (November 2007). "The biology and non-chemical control of Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria L.)" (PDF). Henry Doubleday Research Association. Ryton Organic Gardens. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  12. ↑ Don, Monty (2001-04-22). "Invasion of the soil snatchers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Axtell, Annie E.; DiTommaso, Antonio; Post, Angela R. (2010-04-01). "Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria): A Threat to Woodland Habitats in the Northern United States and Southern Canada". Invasive Plant Science and Management 3 (2): 190–196. doi:10.1614/IPSM-D-09-00044.1. ISSN 1939-7291.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Ranunculus ficaria L.". Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Sohrabi Kertabad, S.; Rashed Mohassel, M. H.; Nasiri Mahalati, M.; Gherekhloo, J. "Some biological aspects of the weed Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)". Planta Daninha 31 (3): 577–585. doi:10.1590/S0100-83582013000300010. ISSN 0100-8358.
  16. ↑ "Lesser Celandine" (PDF). Invasive Plants in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  17. ↑ "Ficaria verna Huds.". www.tropicos.org. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  18. ↑ "Alien Plant Invader: Lesser celandine". The City of Portland, Oregon. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  19. ↑ "Lesser celandine - US States Distribution". Early Detection & Distribution Mapping System. The University of Georgia - Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2016 – via EDDMapS.
  20. ↑ List, PH; Hörhammer, L, eds. (1979). Hagers Handbuch der pharmazeutischen Praxis (in German) (4 ed.). Springer Verlag. ISBN 3-540-07738-3.
  21. ↑ Lewis, Robert Alan (1998-03-23). Lewis' Dictionary of Toxicology. CRC Press. ISBN 9781566702232.
  22. ↑ Yilmaz, Bulent; Yilmaz, Barış; Aktaş, Bora; Unlu, Ozan; Roach, Emir Charles (2015-02-27). "Lesser Celandine (Pilewort) Induced Acute Toxic Liver Injury: The First Case Report Worldwide". World Journal of Hepatology 7 (2): 285–288. doi:10.4254/wjh.v7.i2.285. ISSN 1948-5182. PMC 4342611. PMID 25729484.
  23. ↑ Berger, Artur; Wachter, Helmut, eds. (1998). Hunnius Pharmazeutisches Wörterbuch (in German) (8 ed.). Walter de Gruyter Verlag. ISBN 3-11-015793-4.
  24. 1 2 Mithen, S. , N. Finlay , W. Carruthers , S. Carter , and P. Ashmore. 2001. Plant use in the Mesolithic: Staosnaig, Isle of Colonsay, Scotland. J. Archaeol. Sci 28:223–234.
  25. ↑ North, P. 1967. Poisonous Plants and Fungi in Colour. London Blandford. 121.
  26. 1 2 3 4 Chevallier, A. 1996. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants. New York DK. 258.
  27. 1 2 3 Chillemi, S. and M. Chillemi . 2007. The Complete Herbal Guide: A Natural Approach to Healing the Body. Morrisville, NC Lulu. 231.
  28. ↑ De BaÏracli Levy, J. 1991. The Illustrated Herbal Handbook for Everyone. London Faber and Faber. 51.
  29. ↑ "THE DOCTRING OF SIGNATURES". www.botgard.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  30. ↑ "Lesser celandine". Nature's Calendar. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  31. 1 2 Hager, Hermann (1900-01-01). Hager's Handbuch der pharmaceutischen Praxis für Apotheker, Ärzte, Drogisten und Medicinalbeamte. ... (in German). J. Springer.
  32. ↑ Grieve, Maud (1971-06-01). A Modern Herbal: The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-lore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs, & Trees with All Their Modern Scientific Uses. Dover Publications. ISBN 9780486227986.
  33. ↑ Miranda Seymour (2002). A Brief History of Thyme and Other Herbs. page 18
  34. ↑ C. S. Lewis (1950). The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. End of chapter 11, beginning of chapter 12
  35. ↑ D. H. Lawrence (1913). Sons and Lovers. Chapter 6: Death in the family

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