Lesser Celandine

 

Lesser Celandine

B. Doherty

 

Lesser Calendine

Orla Doherty 2022

Woodlawn Woods

Common Name: Lesser Calendine

As Gaeilge: Grán arcáin

Scientific Name: Ficaria verna (Ranunculus ficaria)

Identification Tips: Yellow flowers with 8-10 petals and usually 3 sepals. Long ascending flower stalks. Many minutely hairy achenes. Glossy hairless leaves, long-stalked, cordate, mainly basal. Creeping, rooting stems. Rootstock is mass of white tubers. (Description from Irish Wildflowers)

Flowering: February-May. Perennial. Native. One of the first to flower in Woodlands.

A Bit More about Lesser Calendine

This is from the Ranunculaceae or buttercup family. May be found in damp soils, drains and woodlands. Native to Ireland. The name ‘celandine’ comes from the Greek chelidon meaning ‘swallow’. The Gaelic meaning when translated means ‘grain of the unknown’.