Spring buttercup, or lesser celandine

Spring buttercup, or lesser celandine, or spring lesser celandine (lat. Ranunculus ficaria) — a species of herbaceous plants in the genus Ranunculus of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). Previously this species was placed in the genus Ficaria.

Distribution: in the European part within the forest zone from the Atlantic coast in the west to Western Siberia in the east, as well as in the Caucasus and in Central Asia (Tien Shan). A characteristic representative of broad-leaved forests, it grows on rich soil in damp woods, along streams, on wet meadows and in ravines, often abundantly.

Description: Perennial herbaceous plant. A typical spring ephemeral. It actively vegetates and blooms in March–April, and dies back by June. Stem 25-30 cm tall, covered with leaves, slender, ascending, few-flowered, with a cluster of tuberous roots.

Leaves are very decorative: rounded-cordate, glossy green up to 5 cm in diameter, lower leaves – angularly scalloped, long-petioled, upper – short-petioled, cordate-angular. Small bulblets resembling tubercles develop in the leaf axils.

Flowers are bright yellow, fading over time to almost white, relatively large (up to 2.5-3 cm in diameter), on fairly short pedicels. Pollinated by insects.

Achenes obovoid, hairy, swollen at the top, with a very short beak; they usually form only in well-lit places. The achenes have a fleshy appendage at the base, thanks to which they are dispersed by ants throughout the garden.

Flowering time: April-May

Location: under deciduous trees as an early-spring groundcover plant.

Care: The plant is undemanding and requires no special care. It is necessary to control its spread, because lesser celandine multiplies very quickly, settling in flower beds and rock gardens, often displacing other, less aggressive plants.

Reproduction: Actively reproduces vegetatively by means of axillary tubers — buds ("propagative buds") and tuberous roots. When the above-ground parts of the plant die back, the propagative buds remain on the soil surface, covered by leaves, and in the next growing season give rise to new plants. Thanks to this method of reproduction, lesser celandine individuals grow in groups, often forming large aggregations, becoming a noxious weed.

Use: In garden compositions, cultivars of lesser celandine derived from the subspecies without aerial tubers are successfully used. Its cultivated forms differ in the varied coloration of leaves and petals and the presence of double flowers, which can be white, yellow, or orange.