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Synonyms: Pilewort,
Figwort, Small Celandine, Smallwort.
Flowers: February -
May
This is one of the
first heralds of the spring. Lesser Celandine is a low (up to 20
cm) hairless perennial with a tuberous root, which stores food for
the plant during the winter. This ready supply of food enables the
early awakening of the plant (similar to some of the early bulbous
rooted plants, like snowdrop).
The green, shiny leaves are borne on long stalks and often have
dark markings. Their shape can be variable but they are usually
heart-shaped and the texture is rather fleshy.
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The
glistening yellow petals of its lovely flowers (2-3 cm) radiate
like the rays of the sun on a child's drawing. The colour of the
flower petals (which is greenish underneath) fades to a pale
yellow, even white with age. The flowers close in rainy
condition and for the night (It tends to open from 9 to 5
!). They are pollinated by various insects, including bees
and flies. The Celtic name for the plant is 'Sun' (Grian) and
refers probably both to its appearance, as well as to its
responsiveness to the sun.
During the first year of its life the plant usually only grow
leaves and build up a store of food in its root. These root
system consists of several little tubers, the shape of small
figs, hence the name 'Figwort'. Every little tuber, like a
potato, can give rise to a new plant and when it is dug into the
ground (for example at the edge of a shady garden), it will
patiently grow its way to the surface again.
Lesser Celandine has yet another way of multiplying itself. In
the cold early months of the year the flowers may not always be
pollinated, when conditions are not favourable for bees and
flies. Lesser Celandine has provided for this possibility by
growing tiny bulbils at the base of the leaf-stalk in plants
where the fruit has failed to set. They are the size of wheat
grains and drop down to the ground when the plant is dying in
the summer.
Lesser Celandine
can be found in damp woods, hedges, road verges, disturbed
ground, grassy banks, ditches, danp grassy habitats, stream and
river margins, often in seasonally flooded areas, both open ans
shaded. It grows throughout the Britain Isles and can be locally
abundant.
Lesser Celandine
is not related, nor looks like Greater Celandine (Chelidonium
majus). All the two plants have in common is the yellow
colour of their flowers.
Both the roots and
leaves are used medicinally and have often been considered as a
specific for haemorrhoids or piles, because it has an astringent
action.
"Internally, the infusion of 1 oz. in a pint of boiling
water is taken in wineglassful doses, and will in most cases be
sufficient to effect a cure.
It is also used externally as an ointment, made from the bruised
herb with fresh lard, applied locally night and morning, or in
the form of poultices, fomentations, or in suppositories." (Mrs
Grieve)
Personally I would recommend the external application as the
most direct route to success.
This plant has
also often been used as a welcome source of vitamins when there
are not many other edible greens about yet and hence its
medicinal use also includes scurvy.
"The first
leaves make an excellent salad or can be used in sandwiches.
Leaves, stalks and buds are used in the same way as spinach;
buds on their own, preserved in vinegar, make a substitute for
capers. Both the bulbils which are formed in the leaf axils and
the root bulbils are served with meat (stew in salted water
until soft, strain and put in vinegar) or as a vegetable (Stew
briefly in salted water, strain, sauté in butter, thicken with
cornflour, season and serve)." (Edmund Launert
"Edible and Medicinal Plants of Britain and Northern
Europe", Hamlyn 1989)
William Wordsworth
may be famous for his poem "Daffodils": "I
wander'd lonely as a cloud - That floats on high o'er vales and
hills,- When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden
daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in
the breeze."
Nevertheless his favourite flower was Lesser Celandine, and in
recognition of this, its flowers have been carved on his tomb.
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