A field of Ranunculus acris or Meadow Buttercup is a glorious site! Here with Yorkshire Fog in the Walsall Arboretum (By Matt Summers)
The Ranuculaceae is a relative primitive family and therefore occurs early in Stace as well as other native Floras.
Several of the native Ranunculus are seen as weed: especially the Creeping Buttercup or Ranunculus repens, which has extremely tough and tenacious roots. The Lesser Celandine or is also often not appreciated in gardens!
This well known family was done earlier here but only the more well-known species were covered so this is the updated and much longer version!
There aren’t too many uses for the members in the B.I. but many species can be found as a garden plant as they are often very ornamental! And several of this family can be found as garden escapes in the wild.
Many Ranunculaceae members contain protoanemonin, which is toxic to humans and animals. Contact with plant sap may cause inflammation and blistering of the skin, while ingestion can cause irritation of the mouth, vomiting, and diarrhea.
I am grateful for all the information on the Plant Atlas Online as well as many other good websites for which I include the links in the information. You can use the link on the scientific name to find more information on its state and presentation in the British Isles and there are some good pictures frequently in the Gallery section there.
I’ve just discovered that the BSBI (Botanical Society of the British Isles) also has a good website on all the plant families + species in the British Isles. For more additional information see here: https://bsbi.org/plants/ranunculaceae
More info and pictures are provided by Wikipedia, Matt Summers and Mike Poulton.
If the plant is found in the Birmingham and Black Country then FBBC is added behind the name in the contents page.
Contents:
1 Caltha palustris or Marsh-marigold FBBC
2 Trollius europaeus or Globeflower
3 Helleborus spp. FBBC
- H. argutifolius or Corsican Hellebore
- H. foetidus or Stinking Hellebore
- H. orientalis or Lenten-rose
- H. viridis or Green Hellebore
4 Eranthis hyemalis or Winter Aconite
5 Nigella damascena or Love-in-a-mist FBBC
6 Aconitum spp. or Monk’s-hoods FBBC
- A. napellus agg.. or Monk’s-hood
- A. lycoctonum or Wolf’s-bane
7 Consolida ajacis or Larkspur FBBC
8 Actaea spicata or Baneberry
9 Anemone spp. or Anemones
- A. nemorosa or Wood Anemone FBBC
- A. apennina or Blue Anemone FBBC
- A. blanda or Balkan Anemone FBBC
- A. x hybrida or Japanese Anemone FBBC
- A. ranunculoides or Yellow Anemone
10 Hepatica nobilis or Liverleaf
11 Pulsatilla vulgaris or Pasqueflower
12 Clematis spp. or Traveller’s-joys
- Clematis vitalba or Traveller’s-joy FBBC
- C. cirrhosa or Early Virgin’s-bower
- C. flammula or Virgin’s-bower
- C. montana or Himalayan Clematis FBBC
- C. tangutica or Orange-peel Clematis FBBC
13 Ranunculus spp. or Buttercups
- R. aconitifolius or Aconite-leaved Buttercup (neophyte)
- R. acris or Meadow Buttercup FBBC
- R. aquatilis or Common Water-crowfoot FBBC
- R. arvensis or Corn Buttercup (archaeophyte) FBBC
- R. auricomus or Goldilocks Buttercup FBBC
- R. baudotii or Brackish Water-crowfoot
- R. bulbosus or Bulbous Buttercup FBBC
- R. circinatus or Fan-leaved Water-crowfoot FBBC
- R. flammula or Lesser Spearwort FBBC
- R. fluitans or River Water-crowfoot FBBC
- R. hederaceus or Ivy-leaved Crowfoot FBBC
- R. lingua or Greater Spearwort (neophyte in Channel Islands) FBBC
- R. marginatus or St. Martin’s Buttercup
- R. muricatus or Rough-fruited Buttercup (neophyte)
- R. omiophyllus or Round-leaved Crowfoot FBBC
- R. ophioglossifolius or Adder’s-tongue Spearwort
- R. paludosus or Jersey Buttercup (native in the Channel Islands)
- R. parviflorus or Small-flowered Buttercup FBBC
- R. penicillatus or Stream Water-crowfoot FBBC
- R. repens or Creeping Buttercup FBBC
- R. reptans or Creeping Spearwort
- R. sceleratus or Celery-leaved Buttercup FBBC
- R. sardous or Hairy Buttercup
- R. trichophyllus or Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot
- R. tripartitus or Three-lobed Crowfoot
14 Ficaria verna or Lesser Celandine FBBC
- F. verna subsp. verna FBBC
- F. verna subsp. chrysocephala
- F. verna subsp. fertilis
- F. verna subsp. ficariiformis
15 Myosorus minimus or Mousetail
16 Adonis annua or Pheasant’s-eye
17 Aquilegia spp. or Columbines FBBC
- Aquilegia pyrenaica or Pyrenean Columbine
18 Thalictrum spp. or Meadow-rues
- T. flavum or Common Meadow-rue FBBC
- T. alpinum or Alpine Meadow-rue
- T. minus or Lesser Meadow-rue FBBC
- T. aquilegiifolium or French Meadow-rue (neophyte)
- T. delavayi or Chinese Meadow-rue (neophyte)
- T speciosissimum or Dusky Meadow-rue FBBC
The Ranunculaceae
Ranunculaceae, the Buttercup or Crowfoot family is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide.
In the British Isles there are 18 genera and approx
It is one of the best-loved plant families and includes many of our popular garden plants, including Clematis, Delphinium and Aquilegia.
The family takes its name from the latin, rana, which means ‘little frog’, because many of the plants thrive in damp places. They’re also often found growing in cooler parts of the world and most of the plants are herbaceous.
Caltha palustris or Marsh-marigold in its wet habitat at Attingham Park in Shropshire and close-up (By Matt Summers)
1 Caltha palustris or Marsh-marigold
A perennial herb of wetland habitats, usually on neutral to base-rich rather than very acidic soils, including alder-carr, the edges of rivers, streams, canals, lakes and ponds, ditches and winter-wet meadows and pastures. A small form, var. radicans, is found in mountain flushes and lake shores in northern and western Britain and Ireland.
The flowers are early and produce both nectar and copious amounts of pollen which attract many insect visitors. They may be most commonly pollinated by hoverflies (Syrphidae).
Early spring greens and buds of Caltha palustris are edible when cooked (but are poisonous when raw) . Young leaves or buds should be submerged a few times in fresh boiling water until barely tender, cut into bite-sized pieces, lightly salted, and served with melted butter and vinegar. Very young flowerbuds have been prepared like capers and used as a spice.
The common marsh marigold is planted as an ornamental throughout temperate regions in the world, and sometimes recommended for low maintenance wildlife gardens. The double-flowered cultivar ‘Flore Pleno’ has won the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
2 Trollius europaeus or Globeflower
A perennial herb of cool, damp habitats, including hay meadows, wet mountain pasture, streamsides and riverbanks, lake margins, and diverse open woodland and rock ledge habitats. It prefers nutrient-poor, basic soils, and is often associated with limestone.
It flowers between June and August and is species is pollinated mostly by seed-eating flies belonging to the genus Chiastocheta (Anthomyiidae).
Globeflower seeds ripen between July and September and are transported to new locations by grazing animals, which appear to be unaffected by toxins known to occur in these plants. The seeds are deposited completes with an abundant supply of organic ‘compost’.
It is an attractive garden plant and grows best in deep, preferably heavy, moist soil that does not dry out, in full sun or partial shade.
3 Helleborus spp. or Hellebores
Commonly known as hellebores the genus Helleborus consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants.
They are all very attractive as a garden plant and attractive to early insects as a source of nectar.
The dried rootstock of several species are used in homeopathy as remedy. But many hellebore species are poisonous.
There are 4 species growing in the wild of which 2 are natives:
- Helleborus argutifolius or Corsican Hellebore (neophyte)
In cultivation Helleborus argutifolius hybridises readily with the closely related H. lividus.
H. argutifolius has gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit
Helleborus foetidus or Stinking Hellebore (Native in Britain and a neophyte in Ireland and the Channel Islands)
A short-lived perennial herb of shallow calcareous soils. It is a poor competitor, and intolerant of deep shade, so is usually found in small colonies in woodland glades or open scrub, on scree slopes, rock ledges, hedgebanks, and as an introduction in churchyards.
Despite its common name, it is not noticeably malodorous, although the foliage is pungent when crushed!
Yeasts colonise the nectaries of stinking hellebore and their presence has been found to raise the temperature of the flower, which may aid in attracting pollinators to the flower by increasing the evaporation of volatile organic compounds. It was the first species in which this effect was discovered.
All parts of the plant are poisonous, containing glycosides. Symptoms of intoxication include violent vomiting and delirium.
H. foetidus is grown in gardens for its handsome evergreen foliage and large numbers of green, bell-shaped flowers borne in late winter. It prefers woodland conditions with deep, fertile, moist, humus rich, well-drained soil, and dappled shade. The species is, however, drought-tolerant. It often occurs naturally on chalk or limestone soils.
We have several plants which originated from my friend’s estate in Tuscany!
This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit
- Helleborus orientalis or Lenten-rose (neophyte)
An almost winter-green rhizomatous perennial herb, which is sometimes planted and naturalized in woodland and parks, and also occurs as a relic of cultivation, and rarely as a casual on refuse tips.
H. orientalis has been grown in British gardens since 1842 and it is very widely grown for its large flowers, produced in winter. There are many hybrids in cultivation. It was first recorded in the wild in in two woods in North Hampshire in 1926.
This is a valuable garden plant for late winter and early spring. There are many cultivars and colour variations.
Its pollen-rich flowers are attractive to bees and other insects. Hellebores are also generally deer and rabbit resistant, making them suitable for gardens where these animals are common.
- Helleborus viridis or Green Hellebore (Native or alien in Britain and a neophyte in Ireland and the Channel Islands)
A perennial herb of rather shady habitats, usually on chalk or limestone, found in woodland glades, rocky dingles and old hedgebanks.
H. viridis has been grown in gardens since medieval times, and was recorded in the wild by 1562. It frequently escapes from gardens making it very difficult to delimit its native range.
It is a plant used in homeopathy to some sources but consumption of any part of the plant can lead to severe vomiting and seizures.
4 Eranthis hyemalis or Winter Aconite (Neophyte)
A small, tuberous-rooted and summer-dormant perennial herb, widely cultivated and well naturalized, sometimes in large numbers, in woodland, grassland, scrub, churchyards, parks, gardens and on riverbanks and road verges. It readily self-sows in and out of cultivation.
The plant is valued in cultivation as one of the earliest flowers to appear. E. hyemalis and the sterile hybrid cultivar ‘Guinea Gold‘ have gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
All parts of the plant are poisonous when consumed by humans and other mammals, because it contains cardiac glycosides. Glycosides of this type stimulate the heart when administered in small doses, but in very large doses may cause serious, often irreparable heart damage.
5 Nigella damascena or Love-in-a-mist
An annual herb, very widely grown in gardens, escaping onto refuse tips, waste ground, old walls and in pavement cracks. It readily regenerates from seed and populations can be persistent, but only in disturbed sites where there is little competition.
The black seeds, especially in the middle east are used as a peppery condiment. (from the Medicinal Flora of Britain and Northwestern Europe by J. Barker)
Several species are grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Nigella damascena has been grown in English cottage gardens since the Elizabethan era, Nigella seeds are self-sowing if the seed pods are left to mature.
There are many cultivars. The pale blue ‘Miss Jekyll’ and the double white-flowered ‘Miss Jekyll Alba’ have gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
The dried seed capsules can also be used in flower arrangements.
6 Aconitum spp. or Monk’s-hoods
Aconitum also known as Aconite, Monkshood, Wolfsbane, Leopard’s bane, Devil’s Helmet, or Blue Rocket, is a genus of over 250 species. These herbaceous, frequently toxic perennial plants are chiefly native to the mountainous parts of the Northern Hemisphere in North America, Europe, and Asia, growing in the moisture-retentive but well-draining soils of mountain meadows.
All Aconitum species and cultivars are useful and undemanding garden plants but need to be handled with care being extremely poisenous.
Aconitum is bumblebee-pollinated (genus Bombus). A. lycoctonum is mainly pollinated by Bombus hortorum in the lowlands and Bombus gerstaeckeri in the highlands, both species being long-tongued bumblebees which are able to reach the nectar at the end of the nectaries. The flower’s nectar also attract other insects, including flies, and short-tongued bumblebees such as Bombus wurflenii, which act as nectar robbers but may also occasionally pollinate.
- A. napellus agg.. or Monk’s-hood (neophyte)
Clump-forming perennial herbs, with a tuberous root, widely grown in gardens and found as naturalized escapes on calcareous to slightly acidic soil on stream banks, often in shade, in damp, open woodland and sometimes in damp meadows, as well as where dumped on roadsides, waste ground and refuse tips.
Aconitum has over 250 species of flowering plants and is chiefly native to the mountainous parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Julian Barker, in his Medicinal Flora, warns this as probably the most dangerous wild plant grown in Europe. As most poisonous plants it has also got medicinal properties as a local anaesthetic, anodyne and antipyretic.
- A. lycoctonum or Wolf’s-bane (neophyte)
7 Consolida ajacis or Larkspur (Neophyte)
An annual herb, widely grown in gardens and found as a casual on waste ground, pavements, railways, refuse tips and on the margins of cultivated fields on dry, chalky or sandy soils.
The name, Larkspur, probably originated in England and refers to the horn-shaped nectary of the flower which resembles the spur of a lark’s claw.
It is frequently grown in gardens as an ornamental for its spikes of blue, pink or white flowers which can also be used as cut and dry flower.
Since the aerial parts and seeds of C. ajacis have been found to contain diterpenoid alkaloids (see chemical constituents below), including the highly toxic methyllycaconitine, the plants should be considered as poisonous.
Actaea spicata or Baneberry in flower (By Robert Flogaus-Faust in Wikipedia Commons) and in fruit (By Florapic ( in Wikipedia Commons)
8 Actaea spicata or Baneberry
A long-lived perennial herb of shaded habitats on limestone including grikes of limestone pavement, on rock ledges, and in deciduous woodland.
Actaea spicata is cultivated as an ornamental plant.
It is toxic by ingestion, and is also an irritant, so requires careful handling. It has been used as a homeopathic remedy for arthritis and joint pain.
9 Anemone spp. or Anemones
As of April 2020 Kew’s Plants of the World Online lists 63 species in the genus.
The following 4 spp. are found in the wild in the B.I.:
Anemone nemorosa or Wood Anemone at Walsall Arboretum (by Matt Summers)
A rhizomatous perennial herb, primarily found in woodland, as well as on shaded streamsides, under bracken, on hedgebanks, in open heathy grassland, on open moorland, in scree, on limestone pavement and occasionally in species-rich floodplain grassland where it can be abundant.
The species is common in the British Isles but it spreads very slowly there, by as little as six feet per century, so it is often used as an indicator for ancient woodland.
The flowers are pollinated by insects, especially hoverflies.
Many cultivars have been selected for garden use, The RHS Plant Finder 2008–2009 lists 70 cultivars sold by nurseries in the UK. Several have the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
- A. apennina or Blue Anemone (neophyte)
- A. blanda or Balkan Anemone (neophyte)
Native of the Balkans and south-western Asia; an eastern counterpart of the closely related A. apennina.
The flowers attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
This plant and its cultivar ‘White Splendour’, have gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
- A. x hybrida or Japanese Anemone (A cultivated hybrid (alien × alien))
A perennial herb and popular garden plant which occurs as an escape or throw-out on roadside banks and waste ground, and in the crevices and bases of walls and adjacent pavements. It has horizontally spreading roots which allows it to spread vegetatively.
- A. ranunculoides or Yellow Anemone (neophyte)
The plant is widely grown as a garden plant, especially by rock garden and alpine garden enthusiasts. It has been awarded an Award of Garden Merit or AGM by the Royal Horticultural Society
10 Hepatica nobilis or Liverleaf (neophyte)
A small, rhizomatous herb, naturalized in a few woodlands and in scrubby grassland but more frequent as a persistent garden relic.
A very pretty plant for growing in pots or in the garden. John Massey of Ashwood Nurseries has a particular interest in the genus Hepatica.
As of January 2021, Kew’s Plants of the World Online (POWO) accepts 7 species and one hybrid in the genus Hepatica.
See Hepatica nobilis ‘Ashwood Blue‘.
Medieval herbalists believed it could be used to treat liver diseases, and may be used in current folk medicine.
This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
11 Pulsatilla vulgaris or Pasqueflower
A long-lived perennial herb of short, species-rich grassland on chalk or limestone escarpments, and the banks of ancient earthworks, usually with a southerly or south-westerly aspect with high insolation, shallow soils and little competition from other species. Plants produce viable seed, but seedling establishment has rarely been observed.
This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
It is the county flower of the English counties of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire and a large colony occurs on publicly accessible land in the Cotswolds, UK, at the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s Pasqueflower reserve
12 Clematis spp. or Traveller’s-joys
Clematis is a genus of about 380 species. Their garden hybrids and cultivars have been popular among gardeners, beginning with Clematis ‘Jackmanii’, a garden staple since 1862. More cultivars are being produced constantly, mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin.
5 species are known in the B.I.. To start with the only native species:
Clematis vitalba or Traveller’s-joy in flower above with a Painted Lady Butterfly (By Wouter Hagens – Wikipedia Commons) and below in fruit called ‘Old Man’s Beard (in Wikipedia Commons)
Clematis vitalba or Traveller’s-joy & Old Man’s Beard (Native in Britain and a neophyte in Ireland and the Channel Islands)
A climbing perennial with liana-like woody stems, often covering large areas on hedgebanks, hedges and walls, trees and scrub, sand dunes, disused quarry faces and ruins. It is a classic railway plant. On base-rich soils, or utilizing lime mortar, the plant can form virtual monocultures. The familiar feathered propagules, ‘Old Man’s Beard’, disperse readily, and often colonize new cuttings or banks.
This species is eaten by the larvae of a wide range of moths. This includes many species which are reliant on it as their sole foodplant; including small emerald, small waved umber and Haworth’s pug.
Clematis vitalba was used to make rope during the Stone Age in Switzerland.
In Slovenia, the stems of the plant were used for weaving baskets for onions and also for binding crops. It was particularly useful for binding sheaves of grain because mice do not gnaw on it.
In Italy, the sprouts are harvested to make omelettes (called “vitalbini” in Tuscany, “visoni” in Veneto)
I used it to make the bases for autumn wreaths whilst I stayed with my friend in Tuscany, October 2023 & 2024!
The following clematis are all useful and attractive climbers for the garden:
- C. cirrhosa or Early Virgin’s-bower (neophyte)
An evergreen, woody climber, grown in gardens and self-seeding onto walls and waste ground.
Native to the Mediterranean. It includes the cultivars ‘Freckles’, ‘Wisley Cream’ and ‘Jingle Bells’, with ‘Freckles’ and ‘Wisley Cream’ having gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
- C. flammula or Virgin’s-bower (neophyte)
A deciduous, woody climber, naturalized on coastal cliffs, shingle beaches and dunes, and rarely inland.
- C. montana or Himalayan Clematis (neophyte)
A deciduous woody climber, much planted in gardens but very vigorous and often escaping, growing over buildings, hedges and walls and as a persistent relic of cultivation.
A deciduous woody climber, grown in gardens, occasionally naturalized on sand dunes, waste ground, rubbish tips and quarries, and as a relic of cultivation.
13 Ranunculus spp. or Buttercups
Ranunculus is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots.
The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate and montane regions.
The familiar and widespread buttercup of gardens throughout Northern Europe (and introduced elsewhere) is the creeping buttercup Ranunculus repens, which has extremely tough and tenacious roots. Two other species are also widespread, the bulbous buttercup Ranunculus bulbosus and the much taller meadow buttercup Ranunculus acris. In ornamental gardens, all three are often regarded as weeds.
In hay meadows, where the the buttercups often grow, they are also seen sometimes as a weed:
All buttercups, contains the toxic glycoside ranunculin, which gives it a bitter, acid taste, so cases of poisoning in humans are rare. It is also avoided by livestock when fresh, but when the plant dries the toxin is lost, so hay containing the plant is safe for animal consumption.
20 species are known to grow in the B.I. according to the Plant Atlas Online
- R. aconitifolius or Aconite-leaved Buttercup (neophyte)
Probably the most common Buttercup: R. acris or Meadow Buttercup en-masse with Yorkshire Fog grass and close-up showing the calyx which is enclosing the petals unlike the Bulbous Buttercup (both pictures by Matt Summers)
–R. acris or Meadow Buttercup
A perennial herb of damp meadows and pastures on a wide variety of soils, only avoiding very dry or very acid conditions. It is a characteristic plant of unimproved hay and water-meadow communities, and now of relict herb-rich fragments on damp road verges; it also grows on sand dune grassland, in montane flushes and in tall-herb communities on rock ledges. It is unpalatable to grazing animals, but easily controlled in intensively managed pastures.
In horticulture the species may be regarded as a troublesome weed, colonising lawns and paths. When eaten by animals, the buttercups have caused blistering of the tongue and lips, diarrhea and blindness.
However, it may be a welcome feature of wildflower meadows. The double-flowered cultivar R. acris ‘Flore Pleno’ has gained the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
There are several medicinal uses by native Americans.
R. aquatilis or Common Water-crowfoot
An annual or short-lived perennial herb which grows in shallow water in marshes, ponds and ditches, and at the edge of slow-flowing streams and sheltered lakes. It occurs chiefly in water which is eutrophic and at least mildly base-rich, and is favoured by a degree of disturbance.
- R. arvensis or Corn Buttercup (archaeophyte)
– R. auricomus or Goldilocks Buttercup
A perennial herb of deciduous woodland on chalk, limestone and other basic, often clay soils. It also grows in scrub, on roadsides and in churchyards, and rarely in old meadows, on open moorland sheltered by boulders and on montane ledges.
R. bulbosus or Bulbous Buttercup at Portway Hill (Mike Poulton) and close-up showing the reflexed calyx a distinct feature in this Buttercup (by Matt Summers)
– R. bulbosus or Bulbous Buttercup
A perennial herb with a corm-like stem-base, found on well-drained, acidic, neutral or calcareous soils in meadows, pastures and sand dunes. It is absent from highly productive, fertile grassland and from strongly acidic soils.
R. flammula or Lesser Spearwort both pictures taken at Sutton Park (above by Mike Poulton and below by Matt Summers)
R. flammula or Lesser Spearwort
A perennial herb of wet habitats, particularly those with seasonal water level fluctuations. It is found in springs and flushes, around ponds, on lake shores, streamsides, in dune-slacks, marshes, water-meadows, flood pastures, bogs and in ditches and track ruts. It usually grows in oligotrophic or mesotrophic water over neutral to acid substrates.
– R. hederaceus or Ivy-leaved Crowfoot
A perennial herb in permanent wetlands, but often annual in water-bodies that dry out in the summer or on river margins that are inundated in the winter. It grows on damp mud or in shallow water on the cattle-poached margins of ponds, ditches and streams, in wet gateways, on paths and tracks and on exposed mud on the margins of rivers. It tolerates a broad range of pH and nutrient levels, including nitrophilous conditions.
Known to cause gastrointestinal distress, but also sometimes used to treat skin conditions and wounds (from wildflowerweb)
- R. lingua or Greater Spearwort (neophyte in Channel Islands)
A stoloniferous perennial herb of fens and marshes, on ditch, canal and pond edges, around reservoirs and in flooded gravel-pits and quarries. It is normally found in base-rich, still or slowly flowing water.
The native distribution of R. lingua has suffered substantial declines in Britain as a result of drainage over the last 250 years.
Since the 1960s, however, the situation has been transformed by its increased popularity as an ornamental plant and its widespread introduction to ponds and other wetlands in the wild.
- R. marginatus or St. Martin’s Buttercup (neophyte)
- R. muricatus or Rough-fruited Buttercup (neophyte)
- R. omiophyllus or Round-leaved Crowfoot
- R. ophioglossifolius or Adder’s-tongue Spearwort
- R. paludosus or Jersey Buttercup (native in the Channel Islands)
- R. parviflorus or Small-flowered Buttercup (Native in Britain and the Channel Islands and a neophyte in Ireland)
- R. penicillatus or Stream Water-crowfoot
R. repens or Creeping Buttercup mixed with comfrey and forget-me-nots and close-up below (both pictures by Matt Summers)
– R. repens or Creeping Buttercup
A perennial herb with creeping stems, R. repens has a very wide ecological tolerance, but is most typical of disturbed habitats on damp or wet nutrient-rich soils, including woodland rides, ditch sides, farm gateways, tracks and paths, gardens and waste ground. It can also be very abundant in damp or periodically flooded grasslands, in dune-slacks, on lake shores and on active and abandoned arable land. It is absent from very acidic soils.
It is a very common weed of agricultural land and gardens, spreading quickly by its rooting stolons and resisting removal with a deeply anchored filamentous root ball.
Like most buttercups, Ranunculus repens is poisonous, although these poisons are lost when dried with hay. The taste of buttercups is acrid, so cattle avoid eating them. The plants then take advantage of the cropped ground around them to spread their stolons. Creeping buttercup also is spread through the transportation of hay. Contact with the sap of the plant can cause skin blistering.
R. sceleratus or Celery-leaved Buttercup
An annual herb of shallow water or wet, disturbed, nutrient-rich mud, especially at the edges of ponds, ditches, streams or rivers which are poached by livestock and even slurry pits, where it is a classic pioneer species. It is salt-tolerant and frequent on grazed estuarine marshes. Its seeds are long-lived and plants can reappear following disturbance after many years of absence.
While buttercups are toxic due to the presence of the substance protoanemonin, this applies in particular for the cursed buttercup: it is the most toxic buttercup and contains 2.5% protoanemonin. When the leaves are wrinkled, damaged or crushed, they bring out unsightly sores and blisters on human skin.
R. trichophyllus or Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot
A small annual or perennial herb of shallow, still or very slowly flowing water. It is most frequent in ponds, dune-slacks and drainage ditches, but it is also found in larger sites if they are sheltered. It tolerates a range of water chemistry but is most frequent in mesotrophic or eutrophic water.
R. trichophyllus is great in phytofiltration to deal with arsenic which is accumulated in aquatic plants and then eliminated from water.
14 Ficaria verna or Lesser Celandine
- F. verna subsp. verna
- F. verna subsp. chrysocephala
- F. verna subsp. fertilis
- F. verna subsp. ficariiformis
An aestivating perennial herb that grows in woods, hedgebanks, meadows, roadsides, maritime grassland, the banks of rivers and streams and shaded waste ground. It prefers damp, loamy or clay soils, and avoids very dry, very acidic or permanently waterlogged sites.
I love seeing these early rays of sunshine that are the Lesser Celandine to me!
In the Medicinal Flora of Britain and Northwestern Europe, Julian Barker says:
‘Almost all members of this family are rich in alkaloids, there are also glycosides and other toxic substances. Many species are extremely poisenous and none of them are suitable for domestic use.’ Only 2 members of this family are of use to him as a herbalist; the Pasque-flower or Pulsatilla and the Lesser Celandine, although alternative plants for use of the latter are available.
Lesser Celandine is pollinated by bees, small beetles, and flies, including the honey bee or Apis mellifera, Bibio johannis, Phora, and Meligethes. The larvae of Olindia schumacherana feed on the leaves.
It associates with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and the leaves as well as the roots ‘supports’ several parasitic fungal diseases.
Lesser Celandine can be invasive in gardens in the B.I. and in the United States, it is considered a plant pest to gardens, lawns, and natural areas.
Uses as an ornamental in gardens:
Wikipedia states that “RHS Plant Finder” online lists around 220 named cultivars (many of these may well be very similar; nevertheless, this indicates the interest in the species among gardeners). There are 11 cultivars recommended as an attractive early flowering garden plant including:
- Brazen Hussy (bright yellow flowers; glossy dark bronze foliage)
- Collarette (golden yellow double flowers with neat, button-like centres, green in the middle, and a gappy ring of outer petals; silvery-green leaves often with a central streak or splash of purple-black)
- Coppernob (bright orange, single flowers; glossy dark bronze foliage)
Edible and Historical Medicinal Uses:
On drying of these plants, the protoanemonin toxin dimerizes to non-toxic anemonin, which is further hydrolyzed to non-toxic dicarboxylic acids. Cooking of the plants also eliminates the toxicity of the plants and the plant has been incorporated in diets or herbal medicine after being dried, and ground for flour, or boiled and consumed as a vegetable.
The plant is known as pilewort by some herbalists because it has historically been used to treat piles (hemorrhoids). Supposedly, the knobby tubers of the plant resemble piles, and according to the doctrine of signatures this resemblance suggests that pilewort could be used to cure piles!
Several writers and poets have mentioned and written about the Lesser Celandine.
The poet William Wordsworth was very fond of the flower, which inspired him to write three poems: “To the Small Celandine,” “To the Same Flower,” and “The Small Celandine.” The third poem begins thus:
There is a Flower, the lesser Celandine,
That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain;
And, the first moment that the sun may shine,
Bright as the sun himself, ’tis out again
15 Myosorus minimus or Mousetail
An annual herb of seasonally flooded, nutrient-rich soils in areas disturbed by machinery or animals, such as hollows on ploughed land, rutted tracks and gateways in pastures. Also rarely in urban habitats, growing in pavement cracks, car-parks or on waste ground.
16 Adonis annua or Pheasant’s-eye (archaeophyte)
An arable weed of dry soils on chalk and limestone, also recorded from tracks, chalk pits and other disturbed habitats. Seed production is low but it is capable of establishing a long-lived soil seed bank. Most populations are small and restricted to field edges.
In the UK, Adonis annua is endangered and listed as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
The leaves and roots are poisonous to humans and livestock.
It is a pretty red flower that was once considered a weed of cornfields, the Pheasant’s-eye was nearly wiped out by intensive agricultural practices. Today, it can be found in deliberately seeded areas, and on roadside verges and waste ground.
17 Aquilegia spp. or Columbines
The genus includes between 80 and 400 taxa (described species and subspecies) with natural ranges across the Northern Hemisphere.
In the B.I. there are 2 known species in the wild:
Aquilegia vulgaris or Columbine
A perennial herb that occurs as a native on calcareous soils overlying chalk and limestone. It typically grows in woodland glades and open scrub, by woodland rides and streamsides, in damp grassland and fen, and on scree slopes. Garden escapes are now widely naturalized in quarries, on roadsides, railway banks, old walls, and a wide range of ruderal habitats.
Aphids, a type of insect, are known to attack columbines. This is particularly the case for A. vulgaris and hybrids closely related to it. Aphid infestations can result in stunted growth, sticky honeydew accumulations on the basal leaves, and flowers that are deformed or fail to open.
Pollination can be achieved through pollinators visiting flowers to access the nectar stored in the spurs. Studies across European A. vulgaris populations have long identified visitation by bumblebees (Bombus)
Archaeobotanical evidence suggests that Aquilegia vulgaris was cultivated for ornamental purposes in 3rd-century AD Roman Britain. The discoveries of singular A. vulgaris seeds in burnt waste pits at Alcester and Leicester have been interpreted as evidence of their planting in gardens. Finds of columbines at a late Saxon site near Winchester Cathedral and three later medieval German sites have also been interpreted as using the plant for gardening.
It is a pretty flower available in many colours as well as double flowers. Some cultivars are:
The single-flowering cultivar ‘Nivea’ (also known as ‘Munstead White’) received the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit.
The double-flowered cultivars of A. vulgaris are divided into groups. Within the Flore Pleno group, which includes the white-flowered ‘Graeme Iddon.’ The cultivars of the Veraeneana group come in several colours of flower and possess green and gold marbled foliage.
The Stellata group’s double flowers are star-shaped and have pointed petals. This group includes the dark purple-flowered ‘Black Barlow’, the blue-flowered ‘Blue Barlow‘, the multicoloured ‘Nora Barlow’, and the light-pink flower ‘Rose Barlow‘.
Since the introduction of ‘Nora Barlow’ into cultivation by the horticulturist Alan Bloom, it has become widely sold.
The other neophyte species is:
Aquilegia pyrenaica or Pyrenean Columbine (neophyte)
18 Thalictrum spp. or Meadow-rues
Thalictrum is a genus of 120-200 species native mostly to temperate regions.
Despite their common name of “meadow-rue”, Thalictrum species are not closely related to the true rue (family Rutaceae), but resemble its members in having compound leaves twice or thrice divided.
There are 5 known species in the B.I. according to Plant Atlas Online. The first 3 species are native. There is also extra: T. speciosissimum or Dusky Meadow-rue (neophyte) which has been found in Cradley and listed in the FBBC
T. flavum or Common Meadow-rue
A rhizomatous perennial herb of fens, ditches and streamsides, and tall vegetation in wet meadows, always found where the substrate or water is base-rich. It is also recorded from open fen-carr.
Thalictrum flavum is cultivated as an ornamental plant. The cultivars Thalictrum ‘Tukker Princess’ and Thalictrum flavum subsp. glaucum ‘Ruth Lynden-Bell’ have received the Royal Horticultural Society‘s Award of Garden Merit. They are useful in between more ‘showy’ perennials as they are tall and ‘airy’. (personal note)
It has been used in folk medicine in the UK: the roots and flowers have been used as a diuretic and also recommended for skin disorders.
T. alpinum or Alpine Meadow-rue
A small, rhizomatous perennial herb of mountain habitats including damp rock ledges, the open edges of stony streams and flushes, and in thin grassland. It is a good indicator of substrates which are at least slightly base-rich.
T. minus or Lesser Meadow-rue
A morphologically variable, rhizomatous perennial herb of calcareous or other base-rich habitats where competition is low, including fixed sand dunes, scrubby banks, rocky lake and river edges, limestone and serpentine cliffs, limestone grassland and pavement and montane rock ledges. It also occurs as a garden escape in other habitats, including churchyards, hedgebanks and roadsides.
- T. aquilegiifolium or French Meadow-rue (neophyte)
A vigorous herbaceous perennial to 1m tall, with attractively-divided, blue-green leaves and fluffy pink, pale purple or white flowers in dense clusters on erect stems in late spring and early summer.
For distribution see here
- T. delavayi or Chinese Meadow-rue (neophyte)
An upright, herbaceous perennial to 1.5m, with large, blue-green green leaves divided into many small oblong leaflets. Large, open panicles of lilac-mauve flowers 2cm in width, with prominent cream stamens appear from July through to September.
- T speciosissimum or Dusky Meadow-rue (neophyte)
This plant was mentioned in the Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country as to be found in Cradley.