Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria

Scientific Name: Ranunculus ficaria (syn Ficaria verna) (Ranunculaceae).

English Name: Lesser Celandine (Buttercup family).

French Name: Ficaire.

5 Key Characters:

• low growing creeping plant.
• glossy green heart-shaped leaves, rather fleshy, long-stalked, in rosettes.
• flowers glossy yellow (as if they have been varnished) with 8 - 12 narrow petals.
• found in damp places.
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Lookalikes: Other buttercups Ranuculus spp have the same glossiness to the petals but they all have rounder in shape and fewer in number. They are not related to Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus, which is a type of poppy.

Habitat: Damp loam or clay in woods, meadows, hedges and roadsides.


Flowering Period: March-April-May.

Status: Very common everywhere.


Photographed by Loire Valley Nature: