On our early spring walks here in Miller Place, New York, we have been admiring the lovely Fig Buttercup, (Ficaria verna, formerly Ranunculus ficaria) an invasive species of the Buttercup (Ranunculus) family which in early spring often forms a continuous carpet of green speckled with bright yellow flowers. This European native arrived here as an escape from commercial potted plants, and has established itself in much of the northeast USA. It has interesting and unique names such as Lesser Celandine, Celandine Poppy, Smallwort, and Pilewort. The names associated with this plant are varied, some are related to its early flowering, or habitat, others with its flower colors, and some with its potential as a medicinal plant. For example, the term "celandine" is derived from the Latin "chelidonia" which means "swallow". The early-blooming plant was probably associated with the arrival of swallows in spring. While "ranunculus" its genus name (Ranunculus) is a Late-Latin term for "little frog" derived from the Latin "Rana" the frog, a likely reference to the fact that many of this species prefer wet areas where small frogs might be encountered. I suggest that the "fig" reference may be to the shape of the pale gray or white tubers on the roots which look to some like small elongate figs. The term "pilewort" suggests the plant may have been thought to have medicinal qualities, as a treatment for hemorrhoids or piles.
The Pilewort appellation is no doubt derived from the fact that when the plant is unearthed it's root ball appears to consist of a cluster ball of pendant, pale-colored tubers. While some saw these fleshy root-like structures as "figs" others (perhaps some who were suffering with this painful condition) saw them as engorged hemorrhoids. In the early days of plant discovery, but particularly in the 15th and 16th centuries, herbalists, physicians, and alchemists sought medicines to cure illness from substances and plants in nature. The thinking of these early natural scientists was that God created man to sit at the pinacle the terrestrial pyramid and places all of Nature's bounty for man's betterment and use at his or her feet. They reasoned too, that God had created both human diseases and their cures! Thus the medicine to treat human ailments would be found in Nature's bounty. One of those who believed this, and wrote most effectively,and at the time comprehensively, about plant medicines was a German physician and herbalist, one Theophrastus Von Hohenheim (1491-1549) who was best known by his pen name "Paracelsus".
Paracelsus, who was not the first to suggest this idea, coined the term "Doctrine of Signatures" which stated that the shape, color, fragrance, taste, etc., etc., of a plant may be a sign from God of that plant's usefulness as a treatment for a disease. In the case of the Fig Buttercup, or Pilewort, the hemorrhoid-shaped root tuber was the sign or indicator that this plant would be useful in treating that ailment.
Modern science does not agree. Though there are some plants, such as the Fig Buttercup (Pilewort) that do appear to have some salutary effects on the ailments which they were named after. In the case of the Pilewort, decoctions and poultices of this plant are claimed to have a measurable beneficial effect on hemorrhoids, probably due to high concentration of tannins which act as an astringent to shrink the engorged veins. Science tells us that this effect in the Pilewort is happenstance and coincidence, and many other plants without the little tubular roots but high tannin concentrations would do just as well. But try and convince someone of that.
The Fig Buttercup is a low-growing attractive, spring ephemeral which sprouts late in winter or very early spring then blooms in March and April around here. It brightens patches of roadside and barren lawns with its glossy green, heart-shaped or rounded basal leaves and bright yellow flowers. Each flower consists of eight or twelve intensely-yellow shiny petals with a central cluster of darker yellow anthers and stamens. The flowers start out more orangey-yellow, then change to a bright intense yellow. Some exhibit white or blanched petals. The petals close at night and tend to open in the bright sunlight. The Fig Buttercup completes its life cycle early in the spring before the leaves on the trees under which it lives have sprouted and block out intense sunlight. This habit of early and expansive rapid growth tends to inhibit competition from other spring plants. The devotees of native species such as Dutchman's Breeches, Bluebells, Bleeding Hearts etc. see this new-comer as a pest and invasive to be exterminated. But since this hardy plant prefers sandy soils so common here on Long Island, it often occupies barren areas which without this "pest" may have no growth at all. So perhaps for that reason we are a bit more tolerant of its rampant growth. Though I do pluck it out of my own flower garden when I find it there.
Pulling the plants up when they appear in the early spring to control them, one will notice the small pale-gray or white tubers within the root ball as noted above. These are the "figs" which likely give this plant its common name. The small finger-shaped tubers are its means of vegetative reproduction and thus the source of the new plants of this species which appear again and again in your garden after you have labored to pull many others up. To prevent the Fig Buttercups from returning, you must get all of the little tubers. In nature, the plant is dispersed by soil disturbances and by the budding off of new plants from the tubers. The digging activity of small animals which unearth the tubers no doubt spread the plants too. The unearthed tubers perhaps, as a result of rain, wash down to other lower levels where they sprout to form new plants next season.
The Fig Buttercup may be easily confused with the Marsh Marigold Caltha palustris which it resembles closely. The latter plant is a native of the northeast and prefers low-lying wet places, as it's common name and Latin, species-name both suggest. It leaves are less glossy than the Fig Buttercup and have more indented irregular margins. C. Palustris has yellow glossy flowers but with five "petals" (which are really sepals) which form at the terminus of a branching stem.
As noted above the plant has been used as an antihemorrhoidal for the treatment of piles. The dried plants are commonly sold in Russia for its astringent qualities and this species has even been recently reintroduced into the British Pharmacopoeia for that purpose. Other uses are said to be antifungal and antibacterial. None of these uses have been scientifically evaluated.
rjk
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