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Flowers: January -
March.
Winter Aconite is a
low (10 cm) perennial hairless plant. The flowers look like
large buttercups (2-3 cm) and have a characteristic ruff of 3
stalk-less, bract-like leaves. The flowers are pollinated by bees
and flies and produce 'fruit' in the form of a cluster of about 6
follicles. The shiny green, palmately-lobed leaves appear after
the flowers. The root is tuberous.
This is not a native
of Britain, but originates from Southern Europe and West Asia
where it grows in moist humus-rich soils of wood and scrubland up
to 1500 metres high.
It has been widely cultivated as a garden plant, and consequently
it has naturalised in many areas of Western Europe, including
Britain. It can be found in woodland plantations and seems to have
widely naturalised in some areas of Scotland.
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