As soon as there comes a slackening of the iron rule of winter, whether it be early in February or late in March, then on sunny banks and at the feet of pasture-hedges, or on waste-ground by the roadside, the burnished gold stars of the Lesser Celandine glitter in the wintry sunshine. It is a charming little plant in its brightness and compactness, and not in the least suggestive of weediness; yet, if introduced into the garden it can become an absolute nuisance. Its roots produce a large number of cylindrical tubers, which—when the “doctrine of signatures” was in fashion—were held to resemble hemorrhoids, and therefore to be medicinal for that painful malady: hence one of its folk-names—Pilewort. Each of these tubers is capable of producing a new plant, and reproduction by this method is speedily effected.

The leaves vary much in shape and in size. The larger, from the root (radical), are more or less heart-shaped, the edges bluntly angled; the smaller ones, from the stem (caudal), may approach towards the form of an ivy-leaf. The sepals (calyx) vary from three to five, usually three, and the petals from seven to twelve. The stamens are numerous, as also are the carpels or divisions of the fruit. As in the Anemone (page 3), these are achenes, a form persistent throughout the genus Ranunculus; each contains a single seed. The plant is well distributed throughout the country, and may be found in flower until May.