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Ranunculus sceleratus
| Common name: |
Celery-Leaved Buttercup |
Family: |
Ranunculaceae |
| Author: |
L. |
Botanical references: |
17 |
| Synonyms: |
|
| Known Hazards: |
All parts of the plant are poisonous when fresh, the toxins are destroyed by heat or by drying[4, 10, 19, 21, 65]. The plant also has a strongly acrid juice that can cause blistering to the skin[65, 183]. |
| Range: |
Europe, including Britain, mainly in northern and central areas.. |
| Habitat: |
In and by slow streams, ditches and shallow ponds of mineral rich water and muddy bottoms, avoiding acid soils[17]. |
| Edibility Rating (1-5): |
1 | Medicinal Rating (1-5): | 1 |
| Other Possible Synonyms: | From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below. |
| R. scleratus[E]
|
| Other Common Names: | From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below. |
| Blaartrekkende Boterbloem [D], Blisters Buttercup [E], Celery-leaved Buttercup [L], Celery-leaved Crowfoot [H], Celeryleaf Buttercup [P], Cloffing [E], Crowfoot Buttercup [L], Crowfoot,Acrid [E], Cursed Buttercup [B], Gol Duguncicegi [E], K'U Chin [E], Marsh Crowfoot [H], Rogon Chichegi [E], Sardonia [E], Shih Lung Jui [E], Shui Chin [E], Ti Shen [E], Zaghlil [E], |
| Systematics: | From a USDA Plants Database |
|
Order: Ranunculales. Buttercup family
|
| Other Range Info: |
From the Ethnobotany Database |
|
Britain
China Iraq Spain Turkey Us
|
| Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds | From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia
, DEFRA Injurious Weeds | | Listed as noxious/invasive for: South Australia. |
Physical Characteristics
Perennial growing to 0.6m. It is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Flies.
The plant is self-fertile.
We rate it 1/5 for edibility and
1/5 for medicinal use.
The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils.
The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils.
It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.
It requires moist or wet soil and can grow in water.
Habitats and Possible Locations
Pond, Bog Garden.Edible Uses
Leaves.
Young plant cooked[2, 105]. It is said to be not unwholesome if the
plant is boiled and the water thrown away[4] and then the plant cooked
again[272]. Caution is strongly advised, see the notes above on toxicity and
below on medicinal uses.
Medicinal Uses
Disclaimer
Acrid
Anodyne Antirheumatic Antispasmodic Diaphoretic Emmenagogue Rubefacient.
The celery-leafed buttercup is one of the most virulent of our native
plants[4]. The whole plant is acrid, anodyne, antispasmodic, diaphoretic and
emmenagogue and rubefacient[21, 240]. When bruised and applied to the skin it
raises a blister and creates a sore that is by no means easy to heal. If
chewed it inflames the tongue and produces violent effects[4]. The herb
should be used fresh since it loses its effects when dried[21].
The leaves and the root are used externally as an antirheumatic[218].
The seed is tonic and is used in the treatment of colds, general debility,
rheumatism and spermatorrhoea[218].
Other Uses
Fungicide.
An extract of the leaves can be used as a fungicide[65].
Cultivation details
A plant of boggy soils and shallow water, it prefers a loamy soil and a
sunny position.
A greedy plant, inhibiting the growth of nearby plants, especially
legumes[54].
Propagation
Seed - sow spring in a cold frame. This plant is unlikely to need much
assistance.
Division in spring.
Suppliers
For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.
Web References
- Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
- [H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
- [L] Scientific and Common Names (some photos)
from Lepidoptera and some other life forms
- [E] Ethnobotany Data
(common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
- [V] Images
from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
- [B] Data
(Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
- [G] Data
(Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
- [C] Taxon data.
from the CalFlora database.
- [P] Data.
(uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
- [HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
References for Ranunculus scleratus (a possible synonym).
References for ranunculus sceleratus (a possible synonym).
References for the family Ranunculaceae.
See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.
Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.
[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
[10] Altmann. H. Poisonous Plants and Animals. Chatto and Windus 1980 ISBN 0-7011-2526-8
A small book, reasonable but not very detailed.
[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
[19] Stary. F. Poisonous Plants. Hamlyn 1983 ISBN 0-600-35666-3
Not very comprehensive, but easy reading.
[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
[54] Hatfield. A. W. How to Enjoy your Weeds. Frederick Muller Ltd 1977 ISBN 0-584-10141-4
Interesting reading.
[65] Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. Wolfe 1984 ISBN 0723408394
Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far.
[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.
[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.
Readers Comments
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Plant information taken from the
Plants For A Future -
Species Database.
Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963 This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Ranunculus+sceleratus
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