Piles of Flowers

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Piles of Flowers

Sunny days and frosty nights; the clear skies of the past week have seen our bit of Perthshire turn yellow – aside from the ubiquitous and lovely daffodil, isn’t it astonishing how many of our best-loved spring flowers are yellow, as if to mirror the glory of the sunshine?

Primrose and cowslip, forsythia and winter jasmine – but surely the most intensely yellow of all is the Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), whose glossy leaves emerge even while frost and snow lie thickly, and whose brave flowers will try to open tattered heads whenever the slightest sniff of sunshine is in the air.

I’m not sure whether our lane is especially sheltered or whether its global warming, but whereas I used to think February celandines were unusual, each year I notice a few ever more freakishly early flowers – this year the first opened on 23 January! But by the end of March the ground is covered with them like so many stars, and they look fabulous.

Wordsworth loved the celandine enough to write poems about it, but many gardeners dislike them, because they spread quite uncontrollably, forming clusters of tuberous roots which multiply like mathematicians. These roots look uncomfortably like haemorrhoids, and thus the plant was given the name “pilewort” and used in the treatment of this condition.

However, this is one occasion when the “doctrine of signatures” was right, because the astringent properties of this herb do indeed provide help for sufferers from the condition, often in combination with other, soothing, herbs. But a Highland tradition sees the roots as resembling the udders of a cow – so celandines were also hung in the cow byre to increase milk yield!

They have also been used to treat varicose veins and ulcers. The leaves are high in vitamin C - in Germany the plant is known as Scurvy-wort and was eaten to prevent the disease scurvy which is caused by a lack of this vitamin. Although said to be edible when young, as they get older celandine leaves become a bitter and poisonous irritant– so not recommended!

Unlike USDA and most traditional gardeners, I do recommend them for the garden, however, especially for shady areas where perhaps little else grows. Dense shade favours the lesser celandine, by preventing grass from out-competing the flower, and I see no problem with its invasiveness, because soon after flowering the leaves die away completely and you’ll forget it’s there – until reminded one glorious spring morning a year later!

There are some ornamental varieties, too – a double one, a white-flowered one which just looks washed out to me, and one called ‘Brazen Hussy’ I can’t resist a good plant name, and this variety, with brassy flowers screeching against shiny bronze foliage, certainly lives up to the one it’s been given!

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