Lesser Celandine

Description:

Fig buttercup, also called lesser celandine and pilewort, is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant that completes its life cycle during the winter and spring. Plants consist of a basal rosette of tender, succulent, dark green, shiny, stalked kidney- to heart-shaped leaves. Flowers are symmetrical, bright buttery yellow with a slightly darker center, have 8 (typical) to 12 petals, and are borne singly on delicate stalks that rise above the leaves. Tiny cream colored bulblets are produced in stem axils and become apparent later in the flowering period. Abundant fingerlike tubers are produced by the roots and are easily visible when plants are pulled up. Fruiting heads are globose composed of many achenes that are pubescent and usually abortive. When in bloom, large infestations of lesser celandine appear as a green carpet with yellow dots, spread across the forest floor. There are many varieties of lesser celandine including a double-flowered form with many petals and dark green leaves mottled with silvery markings.

Habitat:

low open woods, floodplains, meadows and waste places and seems to prefer sandy soils.