Creeping Buttercup

Ranunculus repens

• After the meadows were lit yellow with dandelions it is now the turn of the buttercup to dot our meadows, parklands and lawns with yellow.
• Less useful in bushcraft, the buttercup, like the majority of its family, is a poisonous plant. Although not when dried so doesn’t need to be removed from hay meadows.
• There are a large number of species in this genus, between 200-600, including lesser celandine.
• Many children have and will continue to test whether or not they like butter by whether there is a yellow glow under your chin when holding a buttercup flower there. The origins of this bit of folklore I have not found.