SPRING WILDFLOWER WALK Date: Saturday 23rd April 2016 Time :2.00pm Venue: Minnowburn car park Discover the first flush of flowers adding colour to Minnowburn with
lesser celandine, wood sorrel, bluebells, violets and hopefully the yellow primrose among others.
William Wordsworth's favourite flower wasn't the daffodil - it was the humble
lesser celandine, Ranunculus ficaria.
It was, in fact, the humble
lesser celandine, Ranunculus ficaria.
Traeth y Gribin, ac isod chwith y Dulys (Alexanders); dde: llwylys a llygad Ebrill (common scurvy grass,
lesser celandine) Lluniau: Bethan Wyn Jones
(Ranunculaceae), or
lesser celandine, is a groundcover native to Europe (Taylor and Markham, 1978; Sell, 1994), which appears to be negatively affecting native plants in forested floodplains in many US states (Swearingen, 2005).
That was British poet William Wordsworth's way of saying that the
lesser celandine is one hardy little spreading perennial.
Yellow
lesser celandine, white stitchwort and purple violets, amongst others, are taking advantage of the light which will be denied them once the trees come into leaf.
"The Floral Clock" is a whimsical piece that revels in language for its own sake, listing flower names--"brilliant azure Wild Succory," "pale Common Nipple-wort," and "the golden star / of the
Lesser Celandine"--as much for the pleasure of letting them roll off the pen and the tongue, one suspects, as for the purpose of exploring Linnaean natural science.
In spring, banksides are covered in primrose,
lesser celandine, wood sorrel and wild garlic, edging later into foxglove, red campion, stitchwort, water avens and meadow sweet.
Or visit a specialist nursery and treat yourself to old favourites like dog violet, periwinkle, marsh marigold,
lesser celandine, wood sorrel, clover and yellow flag.
Known reputed uses include lovage as an aphrodisiac, foxglove for heart disease and a yellow woodland flower,
lesser celandine, for haemorrhoids.
Well no, in fact the flower he worshipped above all others was the humble
lesser celandine - Ranunculus ficaria.