A Ranger's View

A quick wander along the Tyne near East Linton recently showed that spring is well and truly on its way. A pair of dippers hopped around on the rocks, looking rather amorous, whilst the first wild garlic leaves were starting to appear along the banks. Under the riverside willows and alders there were weird looking white (ish) shoots emerging from the soil. On closer examination these proved to be the early signs of purple toothwort, a plant which parasitises these particular tree species.

Another hardy little plant daring to show its face just now is the lesser celandine. It can bloom as early as February, but most will flower between March and May. Several of the plant’s folk names reflect its early appearance, including spring messenger and April’s eye. Even celandine itself is thought to derive from chelidon the Greek word for swallow (the bird that is) - although lesser celandine blooms well before the return of the swallows, both were seen as harbingers of spring. On a slightly less poetic note, the plant was also known as pilewort, as it was used by herbalists to treat haemorrhoids, possibly with limited success.

It’s a very attractive plant, appearing as small golden/yellow star-shaped flowers in a carpet of dark green leaves. The flowers can have between seven and twelve petals and they open and close depending on the amount of sunlight. There is a superficial resemblance to dandelions, but this is actually a relative of the buttercup, belonging to the family Ranunculaceae.

Lesser celandine can be found in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, woods and hedgerows. Like many early flowering plants, lesser celandine is able to exploit the springtime lack of foliage on larger plants. Later in the spring, as the trees green up, the amount of available sunlight reaching the ground is greatly reduced. However, it can also tolerate shade, meaning that it can add a welcome splash of colour to some otherwise drab locations.

In addition to the aforementioned treatment for piles, lesser celandine has also been used to treat other external lumps and bumps. This idea grew from the Doctrine of Signatures, a piece of old nonsense that says that a plant can be used to treat a part of the body, or an ailment that it resembles in some way. The knobbly, tuberous roots were thought to look like assorted growths on the skin. The plant was also used to treat scurvy, which had some validity as the leaves do contain vitamin C. However, they also include dangerous toxins which can cause skin rashes, nausea, paralysis and liver damage.

Lesser celandine is, like most spring flowers, of great value to wildlife. Queen bumblebees are emerging from hibernation at this time of year and will be searching for suitable sites to establish nests. Sources of nectar are few and far between, so lesser celandine is hugely important to these, and other early-flying insects. Surely that’s more important than a dodgy 'cure' for an itchy bottom.