Lesser Celandine (EwA Guide to Common Invasive Species in Middlesex County (MA, US) )

Lesser Celandine

Ficaria verna

Summary ⁶

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 native to Europe and Western Asia. It has fleshy dark green, heart-shaped leaves and distinctive flowers with bright yellow, glossy petals. 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. It prefers bare, damp ground and is considered by horticulturalists in the United Kingdom as a persistent garden weed; nevertheless, many specialist plantsmen, nursery owners and discerning gardeners in the UK and Europe collect selected cultivars of the plant, including bronze-leaved and double-flowered ones. Emerging in late winter with flowers appearing late February through May in the UK, its appearance across the landscape is regarded by many as a harbinger of spring.

Short Description ⁷

A plant that can grow about 30 cm (12 in) high and can reach 30 cm (12 in) in diameter. Leaves are smooth kidney or heart-shaped with wavy edges. Flowers have long peduncles and yellow petals arranged around a central disk.

Source: EwA Invasive Pocket Fieldguide | © Earthwise Aware

Description ⁶

Lesser celandine is a hairless perennial plant to about 25 cm high, growing in clumps of 4-10 short stems, on which the leaves are spirally-arranged or all basal. The leaf stalks have sheathing bases, no stipules, a groove along their upper surface, and two hollows within. The leaves are cordate, 1-4 cm across, dark-green above with a distinctive variegated or mottled pattern, and pale green below. Purple-leaved varieties are common. The margins of the leaves are sometimes entire (rounded) but more often angled or weakly lobed, with hydathodes at the tips. There are two types of roots: dense clusters of thick, pale-coloured elongated tubers surrounded by patches of short, fibrous roots. Some clumps give rise to long stolons to 10 cm or more, allowing vegetative spread to produce extensive carpets of plants.

It produces large actinomorphic (radially symmetrical) flowers, up to 3 (or even 5) cm diameter, on long stalks arising individually from the leaf axils or in loose cymes at the top of the stem. There are no bracts. The flowers have a whorl of 3 sepaloid tepals and 7 to 12 glossy yellow petaloid tepals, which are sometimes tinged purple or grey on the back. Double flowered varieties also occur. The stamens and carpels are numerous, and the fruit is a single-seeded, shortly hairy achene with a very short style. In several subspecies, tubers are formed in the leaf axils after flowering. It blooms between March and May in the UK.

Invasiveness ⁸

In many parts of the Eastern and Northwestern United States and Canada, lesser celandine is cited as an invasive species. It poses a threat to native wildflowers, especially those ephemeral flowers with a spring-flowering lifecycle. Since Ficaria verna emerges well before most native species, it has a developmental advantage which allows it to establish and dominate natural areas rapidly. It is mainly a problem in forested floodplains, where it forms extensive mats, but can occur on upland sites as well. 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.

In the United States, where lesser celandine is considered a plant pest to gardens, lawns, and natural areas, many governmental agencies have attempted to slow the spread of this species with limited success. As of 2014, the species was reported to be invasive and established in 25 states. USDA APHIS considers Ficaria verna to be a high-risk weed that could spread across 79% of the United States, anticipating possible impacts to threatened and endangered riparian species. 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.

🚧 Control Methods (EwA Content Development in Progress) ⁷

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Sources and Credits

(c) Kate Danziger, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Kate Danziger, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/41801561
(c) gsarajg, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by gsarajg, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/113948058
(c) Claire O'Neill, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Claire O'Neill, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/77115397
(c) reidedo, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by reidedo, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/150494283
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficaria_verna
(c) Claire O'Neill, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
Adapted by Claire O'Neill from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficaria_verna

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