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Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna Huds.)

Also known as fig buttercup; also classified as Ranunculus ficaria L.

Many authorities, including POWO, classify this plant in the Ranunculus genus (buttercups). FSUS however notes that this species is best treated in a separate genus due to both morphology and molecular phylogenetics; we follow the convention of FSUS.

Page contents

Summary
Range
Similar Plants
Habitat
Life Cycle
Fauna
Control
Uses
Relatives
Notes
Links
Photos

Photo © GobyHunter, CC BY 4.0.

↑Summary

A perennial spring ephemeral native to Europe through Western Asia, invasive in North America, occurring in moist bottomlands where it often escaped from lawns and gardens.

↑Range - Expand

Legend	Color
Introduced or Not Present
Introduced

This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.

Although this plant occurs somewhere in each of these regions, it may only occur in a small part of some or all of them.

This species has been expanding in recent years, so many range maps may understate the true extent of its range.

↑Similar Plants

Yellow Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)
View - Compare (Under Construction)

↑Habitat

In North America, lesser celandine is found both in wild areas and anthropogenic habitats. Among natural habitats, it is predominately found in floodplains and bottomlands, on sites that flood temporarily, but are not persistently under standing water, during its growing season of late winter to early spring. In these conditions it often forms large monocultures and is a dominant component of the vegetation. It is occasional in mesic upland forests, where it is usually restricted to sites that are locally-poorly-drained but lack accumulation of thick litter.

It occurs in a wide variety of anthropogenic habitats and these habitats are often the source from which it spreads into natural habitats. It grows in lawns and gardens, usually in exposed or disturbed ground. It can grow in low, wet areas of lawns. It frequently colonizes mulch beds as well, and the use of mulch can enable it to spread into areas that would normally be too dry for it.

Lesser celandine is largely indifferent to the lighting conditions of an overhead tree canopy, as most of its lifecycle is completed before trees leaf out. As such it can be found in full sun, under closed-canopy forests, and all lighting conditions in-between. However it is cannot survive in areas where either a tree canopy or dense shrub understory of evergreens block light from reaching the ground.

Because lesser celandine populations are currently increasing and expanding their range in North America, it is hard to know the full extent of the habitats in which this plant will occur. Five different subspecies have been documented, and these subspecies may have the potential to colonize different habitats, and/or interbreed in such a way that could allow the plant to adapt to new habitats.

Humans have increased the potential habitat for this species and contributed to its spread in multiple ways. The mowing of riparian areas, and removal of coarse leaf litter both create its ideal habitat. Recent years has seen a cultural shift away from taller groundcovers, which compete with it and hinder its colonizing new sites, and towards use of open mulch beds with lots of space between plants, creating spaces it can colonize. The timing of the beginning of mowing in many regions is optimal for its survival, as the first mow often happens just as the plant is completing its life cycle and the mowing does not set back its photosynthetic potential much, and can spread it to new areas right at the time when it would normally disperse.

↑Life Cycle

Lesser celandine is a perennial spring ephemeral with a low-growing habit and narrow growth window that is earlier than most spring ephemerals, and it reproduces primarily vegetatively through bulbils (miniature bulbs.)

Foliage emerges from bulbils in late winter, with growth extending into early spring. The growth is earlier than most competing plants, starting in February in much of the range and early in March in the rest. Growth is rapid and established plants flower fairly soon after emerging. The foliage dies down in late April to early May and is usually gone by mid-May. This time period allows it to thrive in deciduous woodlands where both trees and any competing herbaceous vegetation leaf out later.

Newly-established plants may not flower. Established plants usually flower, but rarely produce fertile seed, and instead reproduce mainly vegetatively, by producing above-ground bulbils in the leaf axils, which are distributed by water and also by humans. The bulbils then root and grow into new plants. Plants also grow new and larger bulbils at their base, with many appearing at the base of a single stem. Plants can also sprawl over other low vegetation and root at nodes. Detached bulbils require a site exposed to sunlight to establish, but such exposure is common due to this species' early emergence, even in habitats that have other established vegetation.

It is sensitive to weather conditions during its active window, faring worse in years where the conditions are hot and dry.

↑Faunal Associations

Illinois Wildflowers recognizes that there are a number of insects that eat native Ranunculus species, but we found no documentation of any insects eating this species. This phenomenon may be due to this species not actually being as closely related to the native Ranunculus species as previously thought, and none of the closely-related plants occurring natively in North America. The larvae of the white-barred tortrix (Olindia schumacherana) moth eat this species in Europe but does not occur in North America.

The foliage is browsed to a minimal extent by mammals and the Canada goose (Branta canadensis).

White-tailed deer may help spread this plant to new sites.

↑Control

Lesser celandine is one of the most difficult plants to control, but can be effectively controlled through a variety of strategies. The largest challenge is usually timing: this plant often emerges, completes its growing season, and goes dormant before most people begin managing property. The window for effective control is thus not only narrow, but earlier than most land managers are accustomed to.

Small populations can be controlled by digging up individual plants. However, due to the plant's small size and tiny bulbs, digging is labor-intensive relative to the total amount of biomass being removed. Care must also be taken to remove and destroy all bulbs, which is difficult as mature plants often reproduce vegetatively, producing additional bulbs underground as well as above-ground, attached to leaf axils. Careless attempts at mechanical control can sometimes worsen infestations if they spread bulbs around and create soil disturbance, a condition in which this plant thrives. Bulbs can be smashed on a flat surface and then the whole plants left to dry out in the sun to prevent pulled plants from spreading.

Systemic factors are often key for reducing this species on sites where it is abundant. Coarse leaf litter has a slight inhibiting effect on this plant, reducing its flowering and production of seeds and bulbs. On sites where it is possible to solidly anchor coarse litter so it is not blown away by wind or swept away by water, deep enough litter can smother it entirely. Balls from American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) are particularly effective as they break down slowly and do not easily blow away.

Competing vegetation, particularly that with evergreen basal foliage, can inhibit the growth of this plant. Some of the most competitive plants with it include cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) and wildryes (Elymus sp.), with riverbank wildrye (Elymus riparius) and Virginia wildrye (Elymus virginicus) usually overlapping most with it in habitat. These species all emerge earlier and have taller basal foliage and aggressive root systems. Sedges with evergreen basal foliage can also compete favorably with it: blue sedge (Carex glaucodea) outcompetes it on clay soil that is alternately wet and dry, and eastern woodland sedge (Carex blanda) on sites with richer soil and significant shade.

Other species that are slightly less competitive but still compete with it include honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis), great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex), and golden ragwort (Packera aurea). Spring ephemerals such as dogtooth violet (Erythronium americanum), Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), and narrow-leaved spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) also compete with it to a degree.

Herbicide can be used to control this plant. Typically glyphosate is used; because this plant tends to grow in moist bottomland areas and near wetlands and bodies of water, care must be taken to use formulations safe for use around aquatic life, and to apply a minimum amount required to kill the plants, and to do so on a dry day with no chance of rain so as to minimize harm to aquatic life. Glyphosate is non-selective and will also kill most non-target vegetation, so it is not suitable when this plant is growing in with native plants. When this plant is growing in with monocots (such as grasses, sedges, or rushes) but not any native broadleaf plants, selective herbicides such as triclopyr, 2,4-D, dicamba, or MCPA, can be used as they will kill this and other broadleaf plants without affecting monocots. Again, formulations designed for use it aquatic settings are recommended to minimize effects on aquatic life. If applying herbicide, it is important not to mow or cut the plant afterwards so that the herbicide is fully absorbed and transported into the roots.

Often, any control attempt, whether manual or herbicide, requires follow-up. A single year of control is rarely sufficient to remove this plant from a site due to dormant bulbs in the soil which can resprout when the more vigorous parts of the plant are eliminated.

Control also requires coordination within a watershed, as this plant tends to be transported downstream by water. It is usually most effective to start at the top of a watershed, control the most uphill/upstream populations first, and work downstream, as floods will transplant seeds and bulbs downstream, leading the plant to quickly recolonize downstream areas as long as upstream populations exist.

↑Uses

This plant was initially planted as a landscaping plant, where it was valued for its flowers. Planting it is now widely frowned upon, and is illegal in some states.

Under the scheme recognized by FSUS there are five Ficaria species worldwide, but only this one occurs in North America. There are numerous other species, both native and introduced, in the broader Ranunculeae tribe.

↑Notes

Lesser celandine can cause serious, even catastrophic changes to some ecosystetms. It tends to form dense, mostly-unbroken mats that cover the ground over large areas. These mats prevent the germination and survival of nearly all native plants with small seeds that germinate during the time period during which it is active. Its inhibition of other plants is not strictly limited to shading and competition for resources: it also exhibits allelopathy, producing chemicals that inhibit the germination, growth, and reproduction of other plants. When it dies back early, earlier than most of the vegetation it competes with, it exposes soil to erosion. The fact that it is most dominant in floodplains and along streams amplifies the potential for erosion as it tends to occur in the areas that are already most prone to erosion. The soil loss not only harms the ecosystem in which it occurs, but contributes to eutrophication downstream.

Lesser celandine also interacts with other factors causing degradation of bottomland habitats, including overpopulation of white-tailed deer. Deer, in addition to spreading lesser celandine to new sites, do not browse on its foliage much due to its toxicity. Many of the species harmed by lesser celandine, such as lobelias and various spring ephemerals, are deer-resistant, and the presence of lesser celandine thus weakens the ability of the ecosystem to resist degradation in the face of deer overpopulation. However, many other invasive plants that also favor deer overpopulation, including Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), are able to coexist more easily with lesser celandine.

Invasive earthworms such as the European nightcrawler (Dendrobaena hortensis) and the Asian jumping worm (Asian jumping worm) may also increase the dominance and invasive potential of lesser celandine, through breaking down leaf litter more quickly than it would have occurred in their absence.