LESSER CELANDINE: MARSH MENACE
TheMondayGarden.com, Eco-gardening at its best
April 3, 2006 Issue 200
Note: this article updates Issue 159 (April 10, 2005)
Pure and simple, lesser celandine is not marsh marigold; instead it is marsh marigold killer.
Until recently, I'd never seen a real marsh marigold, except in a pot. I wish that I could say the same for the highly invasive similar-looking European cousin, the lesser celandine a/k/a fig buttercup a/k/a Ranunculus ficaria. Indeed, one of the reasons that marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) is so rare is because lesser celandine crowds out the marsh marigolds and our other delicate native spring wildflowers like spring beauties, rue anemone, hepatica, bloodroot, Dutchman's breeches, and trout lily that are trying to co-exist in the same environment.
PICTURE: lesser celandine along the Mill River, north of Bridge Street, Stamford CT, Spring 2006
Lesser celandine still seems to be a valued wildflower in England and Ireland, but in northern U.S. and southern Canada, it is an infestation of the worse sort Lesser celandine is so bad that the US Geological Survey, not exactly an organization known for hyperbole, calls it a "travesty".
PICTURE: Real marsh marigold, off the trail at the Bartlett Arboretum, late April 2005.