Lesser celandine
One of the earliest spring flowers, carpeting damp woodland floors and hedge bottoms; it supplies bees with pollen and nectar on first flights.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Pollen colour
- Height
- 0,05-0,2 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Lesser celandine is a perennial with small tubers on its roots, recognised by its glossy, heart-shaped leaves and glossy yellow star flowers with 8-12 petals. It forms dense carpets in damp deciduous woods, along streams and in parks and gardens. The flowers open in sunshine and close in cloudy weather; they give little but valuable nectar and moderate pollen.
Flowering
It flowers from February to April, often together with crocuses. Once the trees come into leaf, the plant dies back above ground.
Honey and pollen
It makes no contribution to honey production; its value is the pollen and nectar at the time brood rearing starts. The pollen loads are yellow.
Note for the beekeeper
Like buttercups, the fresh plant contains irritant substances. It is native and harmless in Europe but considered invasive in North America, so it should not be taken there. In current classification it has been separated from Ranunculus and placed in the genus Ficaria.