Ranunculus ficaria Linnaeus
Ficaria verna Hudson
lesser celandine, pilewort, pileweed
Europe, western Asia; introduced into North America, Australasia
Though the corms ofRanunculus bulbosus are also on record as cures for
piles, in Cornwall^47 and Antrim^48 that has been pre-eminently the role in
European folk medicine of the roots and axillary bulbils of lesser celandine,
R. ficaria,a use recorded from many and widely separate parts of the British
Isles. Extensions of this have been their application to small lumps in
women’s breasts in the Highlands^49 (for which purpose the roots were usually
placed under the arms), to corns on Colonsay^50 and to warts in Hereford-
shire.^51 Less expected is the use of the petals (in Cumbria)^52 or the leaves (in
74 Ranunculus ficaria
Ranunculus ficaria, lesser celandine (Brunfels 1530, p. 215)