#Lesser Celandine

[rherlotshadow]

The interiors of old hedgerows have become miniature wild flower woods

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Friday 25 April 2025

The small, spring flowering Ficaria verna 'Flore Pleno' (double celandine) is useful for under-planting trees and shrubs, alongside a hedge or on the edge of a meadow. Plants die back to tiny tubers in May and reappear in January. Plants will naturalise in most soils as long as it isn't permanently waterlogged and have good drought resistance once established.

Jill Raggett

[najia-cooks]

Fig buttercup soup

This earthy, complex, savory soup is a play on Italian wedding soup, using a common invasive garden weed as its bitter green.

Fig buttercup, or lesser celandine (Ficaria verna), is a low-growing, flowering perennial that can be damaging to ecosystems in many parts of the United States and Canada, where it has been widely introduced. It forms dense mats early on in the spring, and out-competes other wildflowers; the resulting lack of variety can be harmful to pollinators.

If you have a small infestation, it can be cleared by digging it up manually, though you will need to take care to gather all the tubers, and the small bulbils on the stems, from which the plant can regrow. It's best to eradicate lesser celandine before it has a chance to flower. There is a recompense for your trouble: all parts of this plant, including its roots and tubers, are edible if cooked or dried.

Recipe below the cut!

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Raw lesser celandine contains protoanemonin, a toxin that can cause nausea, vomiting, or paralysis if ingested in large quantities. The plant must be cooked or dried to eliminate the toxin. Keep all parts of the plant that you're going to eat at or above boiling point for at least 15 minutes.

Younger plants have less of the toxin, and some people report consuming young leaves raw, but I haven't tried this myself. If you want to eat lesser celandine leaves raw, I would suggest pulling the leaves, but leaving the tubers, then harvesting the leaves in another couple of days, when they have had a chance to sprout again. That way you will know for sure that the leaves are young. It is probably easier to just find some bittercress or violet, though!

Ingredients

500g lesser celandine (leaves, roots, and tubers)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp cumin (jeera)

1 tsp kala jeera

1 tsp black mustard seeds (rai)

2 pods green cardamom (elaichi), lightly crushed

1 Mediterranean (laurel) bay leaf

1 large white or yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 green Thai bird's eye chili pepper (optional)

1 large tomato, diced

1 carrot, sliced (optional)

1 vegetarian chicken bouillon cube, or paste

Water or vegetable stock, to cover

1/4 cup acini di pepe

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Drizzling olive oil and lemon wedges, to serve

Lesser celandine leaves are a little bitter: like kale, or spinach, but more mildly flavored. The tubers are mildly earthy, like potatoes. My choice of spices plays up the earthy qualities of the leaves and tubers, but you can spice this soup any way you'd like.

Instructions

1. Place plants in a large bowl filled with water and agitate. Lift plants out of the water into a colander to allow dirt to sink to the bottom. Pour the dirty water through a strainer to capture any stray tubers, and set the tubers aside. Repeat this washing and straining process until the water runs completely clear. You may need to rub the tubers and roots between your hands to loosen dirt.

2. Roughly chop the leaves, being sure to separate large clusters at the base. Optionally remove some of the larger roots (the roots are edible and I found that they softened into the soup, rather than remaining chewy or stringy, so it's up to you).

3. If you have any particularly long tubers, cut them into bite-sized pieces.

4. Heat olive oil on medium in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add whole spices (cumin seeds, kala jeera, mustard seeds, cardamom, bay leaf) and fry for 30 seconds to a minute, until cumin seeds are popping into the air.

5. Add tubers and onion and fry 3-5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add garlic and chili and fry until onion is browned and garlic is golden.

6. Add tomato and salt and fry until tomato is softened.

7. Add the rest of the plants and heat, stirring occasionally, until leaves are wilted.

8. Add water or vegetable stock to cover, and stir. Add carrots if using. Cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.

9. Remove some broth into a separate bowl and whisk in bouillon. Pour back into the pot.

10. Add pasta and cook for 9-11 minutes, until tender. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Identifying lesser celandine

Do not eat any plant unless you have a conclusive identification. The information here is intended as a general guide and is not necessarily sufficient to conclusively identify this plant.

Large bed of lesser celandine showing flowers, leaves, and buds

Lesser celandine grows from a cluster of underground tubers in a dense rosette. Tubers are oblate; on larger plants, they grow in clusters.

Unearthed clump of lesser celandine, with roots; clean tuber at right

Leaves are hairless, fleshy, and cordate (heart-shaped), with wavy margins (edges); they are dark green on top, and pale green or silverish on the bottom. They can sometimes show variegation (lighter patterning). Petioles (leaf stalks) have deep grooves down the center.

Leaf top (left) and underside (right). Petiole is visibly grooved from the front

Flowers are yellow or purple and bractless, with 7-9 petals, and many stamens and carpels.

Lesser celandine flower; leaf at bottom left shows some variegation

Lookalikes

Violet

Before it flowers, lesser celandine may resemble violet. Violet leaves have a greater tendency to curl inward at the petiole to form cups. They are more heavily serrated, rather than gently scalloped, as lesser celandine leaves are. Violets grow from rhizomes, rather than tubers. The flowers and leaves of the violet plant are edible raw or cooked; the rhizomes are not.

Violet (left); lesser celandine (right)

Violet (left); lesser celandine (right)

Littleleaf buttercup

Lesser celandine leaves may resemble the lower leaves of the littleleaf, or kidney leaf, buttercup; but littleleaf buttercup is an upright plant, with stems several inches in height. Little buttercup is toxic cooked or raw.

[kristo-flowers]

Lesser celandine

[greencheekconure27]

[lost-harts]

March 2025

[toothwalker]

[dansnaturepictures]

09/03/25-Lesser celandine, viburnum, other flowers and sunset at home and Woodpigeon, views, cherry blossom and red deadnettle on a great walk at Browndown.

At Browndown brief but exciting views of my first Dartford Warbler and (my earliest ever in a year by far) Painted Lady butterfly of 2025, Linnet, Great Crested Grebe, common whitlowgrass and speedwell were other highlights with Red Kites and crocuses also great to see at home. A great wild and relaxing weekend.

[faguscarolinensis]

Ficaria verna 'Coppernob' / 'Coppernob' Lesser Celandine at the JC Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC

[stoptheworld-please]

[photospl]

Lesser Celandine

[kristo-flowers]

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[druidinvirginia]

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[greencheekconure27]

[thehannahartblog]

lesser celandine 4-13-25

[toothwalker]