Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa

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A few weeks ago I wrote about Dandelions and Lesser Celandines. Another of my favourite spring flowers is the Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa, with its starry white flowers.

Like the Lesser Celandine, its leaves grow rapidly in early spring, then if flowers and dies down, so there is no trace of the plant by summer.

Wood Anemones

Wood Anemones (with Primroses and Dog Violet), East Sussex

At the end of April we spent a week in East Sussex. We had expected to see Bluebells and Apple blossom but the Bluebells were only just in bud and the branches of the Apple trees in the orchards were bare, a consequence of our cold late winter and early spring. But the carpets of Wood Anemones in the local woods more than made up for this. They are normally at their best in early April, but not this year.

The Wood Anemone is a good indicator of ancient woodland. It rarely sets seed in Britain so it is reliant on its slow vegetative spread, which has been estimated at about six feet in a hundred years. It can also be seen in hedge banks, especially in the south-west of England, on heathy grassland and open moorland and in limestone pavements in the Yorkshire Dales, though many of these colonies may be relics of former woodland. Wood Anemones occur throughout the British Isles, in suitable habitats (see map).

It is possible to grow Wood Anemones in the garden and in our back garden we have a small patch that has doubled in size (to about six inches) in about ten years. (We planted some in Grapes Hill Community Garden too.) It is important to choose a partly-shaded spot – in full shade the plants will struggle and the blooms are best in sunshine. There are several cultivars – indeed, in the wild the flower petals can be pure white, pinky-purple streaked or, very rarely, sky-blue (var. caerulea).

Wood Anemones are members of the Buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Anemone means “wind flower”, which is also an alternative English name for the plant, along with Grandmother’s Nightcap and Moggie Nightgown (“Moggie” means mouse in this instance, not cat). Another name, referring to the scent of the leaves, is Smell Foxes (Richard Mabey, Flora Britannica, Sinclair-Stevenson 1996).

Wood Anemones are not edible. They contain the irritating, acrid oil protoanemonin, like the Lesser Celandine and other members of the Ranunculaceae. See the Plants for a Future website for more information.

The small, goblet-shaped cup fungus Dumontinia tuberosa can sometimes be found on bare soil near Wood Anemones. It is a parasite and grows from dead or dying rhizomes of the plant (reference).

Wood Anemones

Dandelion, Taraxacum species

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“The dandelion in full flower, a little sun bristling with sun-rays on the green earth, is a non-pareil, a nonsuch. Foolish, foolish, foolish to compare it to anything else on earth. It is itself incomparable and unique.” – D. H. Lawrence, “Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays”, 1925. (Quoted in “Landmarks” by Robert MacFarlane, 2015.)

As well as the Lesser Celandine, another characteristic spring plant is the Dandelion, Taraxacum sp.

Dandelions, such as this group photographed on a road verge in Cantley in east Norfolk, are looking lovely at the moment.

Dandelions

To many people the Dandelion is just a troublesome weed, seeding into otherwise pristine lawns. But dandelion flowers brighten up the garden and countryside and provide an early source of nectar for insects such as the Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies that have recently emerged from hibernation. Later on, the seeds provide food for birds.

There are between 240 and 250 closely related microspecies of Taraxacum in the United Kingdom – all Dandelions, but differing from each other in leaf shape, size, flower and fruit colour and habitat preference. Many of the differences are difficult for a non-expert (and that includes me) to distinguish. There is even a 341 page Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) Handbook, “Dandelions of Great Britain and Ireland” (A.A. Dudman & A.J. Richards, 1997).

There are many English names for the Dandelion, including: Pissy beds, Tiddle-beds, Wet-the-bed, Jack-piss-the-bed, Dog’s posy, Swine’s snout, Old man’s clock and Peasant’s clock. (These are listed in Richard Mabey, Flora Britannica, Sinclair-Stevenson 1996). The name Dandelion comes from the French dent de lion (lion’s tooth) and refers to the teeth on the leaves. For many of the other English names there is a common theme – Dandelion leaves are a strong diuretic when eaten. “Old man’s clock” and “Peasant’s clock” refer to the seedheads. (Richard Mabey also lists Fairies, Parachutes and Sugar eaters for these.) Swine’s snout refers to the buds and closed up flowerheads.

Dandelion leaves are edible. Older leaves are too bitter but young leaves can be added to a mixed salad. (They can be made less bitter if the plant is covered with a flower pot in late winter to blanch the leaves, rather like chicory.) They are very nutritious. The Plants for a Future website lists the Dandelion’s uses as an edible and medicinal plant, as do the University of Maryland Medical Center and A Modern Herbal, including Dandelion Wine and a Dandelion “Coffee” made from the roots. Pissenlit au lard (fried bacon scraps and croutons on a salad of dandelion leaves) is a classic French dish.

Dandelions reproduce asexually through seeds (apomixis). This leads to the microspecies mentioned above – distinct lineages of plants with much smaller differences than is normal between species of most genera.

If you are able to tolerate Dandelions in your garden – and I hope you are – then it’s a good idea to remove spent flowerheads before they seed. Unless you have a lot of time and patience you may not be 100% successful but you will keep the numbers to a manageable level. If you do decide to remove some plants, remember to dig out the deep taproot as well as the top of the plant. Your reward for letting Dandelions into your life will be a world richer in butterflies and bees and the joy of seeing this beautiful, edible, drought tolerant flower.

Dandelion

Lesser Celandine, Ficaria verna

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Spring has arrived and the familiar signs are here – Daffodils in flower, Toads spawning and the first Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Swallows. Amongst the characteristic signs of spring is one of my favourite wild flowers, the Lesser Celandine, Ficaria verna. (I have to remember not to call it by its previous scientific name, Ranunculus ficaria.)

Lesser Celandine

The Lesser Celandine grows in woodland and grassland, including meadows and hedge banks. It is also at home in damp places and gardens. Its starry buttercup-yellow flowers open in bright sunshine and spread cheer as they bloom, from as early as February (although not this year) until early May. The leaves are dark green, shiny and heart-shaped, sometimes with light or dark mottling.

The name Celandine is shared with the Greater Celandine, Chelidonium majus. It is derived from the Greek chelidon meaning Swallow. The Lesser Celandine is usually in flower a month or two before Swallows arrive, while the Greater Celandine blooms later, but both the flowers and the birds are heralds of Spring. Both plants are perennials but are not closely related. Lesser Celandine is a member of the Buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, while the Greater Celandine is in the Poppy family, Papaveraceae.

Other names for Lesser Celandine include: Pilewort, Spring Messenger, Small Celandine, Smallwort, Brighteye and Butter and Cheese. The Gaelic name is Grianne, which means sun, and is very apt.

The name Pilewort comes from the plant’s use in treating haemorrhoids (piles). The Doctrine of Signatures decreed that plants had been ‘signed’ by God with a physical clue to their medicinal properties and the knobbly tubers of Lesser Celandine suggested that the plant might cure piles.

Lesser Celandine can spread very easily in the right conditions, such as our back garden, which has lots of damp corners that suit the plant, as well as a couple of gardeners sympathetic to its cause. It spreads both by seed and by its tubers, which are easily spread when the soil is cultivated. The RHS website lists control methods, such as mulching. Weeding with care, putting any tubers in the green waste collection rather than the compost heap, will do the job as well. (I would never use herbicides.)

Ficaria verna “Brazen Hussy” is a less invasive garden variety with blackish-bronze leaves that contrast well with the bright yellow flowers.

Ranunculus ficaria “Brazen Hussy”

Ranunculus ficaria “Brazen Hussy” at Great Dixter.

The Hedgerowmobile and Herb Society websites list medicinal uses for the plant, including the treatment of scurvy. The young leaves have high levels of vitamin C but the plant also contains the toxin protoanemonin (like other members of the Ranunculaceae), which can cause itching, rashes or blistering on contact with the skin or mucous membranes (such as the lips). As the plants flower, levels of protoanemonin increase and large doses can lead to nausea, vomiting, dizziness, spasms or even paralysis.

Cooking destroys protoanemonin so it is possible to eat Lesser Celandine leaves, cooked, in recipes such as Lesser Celandine and Ground Ivy Stew (which I haven’t tried), although some of the vitamin C will be degraded by cooking.

William Wordsworth was a great fan of the Lesser Celandine and wrote three poems to the little flower with the “glittering countenance”.

“Pansies, Lilies, Kingcups, Daisies,
Let them live upon their praises;
Long as there’s a sun that sets
Primroses will have their glory;
Long as there are Violets,
They will have a place in story:
There’s a flower that shall be mine,
‘Tis the little Celandine.”

(… from “To the Small Celandine“)

Unfortunately,if you visit his monument at Grasmere in the Lake District you will see the Greater Celandine, carved in error, rather than his favourite flower.

This lovely flower continues to inspire writers and more recently, Paul Evans has captured the spirit of the Lesser Celandine in his beautiful prose in a Country Diary entry from Wenlock Edge.