Buttercups in Great Britain

There are four species of buttercup that grow wild in Great Britain, although one of them (celery-leaved) is relatively rare.


Meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris)

The meadow buttercup can grow up to 36 inches (90 centimetres) in height and prefers damp conditions. It has a large number of leaves, which are divided into anything from two to seven lobes, and the small flowers, which can vary in shade from bright to pale yellow (or even white) are evident from May to July and can last right through the summer.

The buttercup is poisonous to cattle, which is one reason why the meadows in the picture (in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales) are not grazed at this time of the year. However, cows tend to avoid eating them anyway, which is just as well.

Children like to pick buttercups and hold them under each other’s chins to see if the yellow reflects on the skin. If it does, this is supposed to show that the child in question likes butter!

In former times buttercup roots were ground up with salt as a treatment for plague – they were said to cause blisters that drew out the disease. Fortunately, there is little call these days for testing whether the method works.

Another use for buttercups was to hang them in a bag round the neck, as a cure for lunacy. Nowadays one might think that wearing a bag of buttercups might be a symptom of the ailment rather than its cure!


Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

This is the buttercup variety that you do not want to get in your garden! It sends out runners in all directions that, every few inches, establish new plants and make it difficult for plants such as grass to get a foothold. Unless you are able to get every scrap of creeping buttercup removed, your lawn can quite easily be ruined.

On farmland the effect can be even worse because cattle will avoid it when grazing – it is unpleasant to the taste – and take the grass instead. This only leaves more room for the creeping buttercup to spread into. If the land is ploughed, the buttercup plants can easily regenerate many times over from the pieces that the plough has cut up.

The plant can be short or tall, depending on soil conditions. It can therefore be a ground-hugger, only two inches (five centimetres) high, or grow up to 20 inches (50 centimetres) in height. The hairy leaves, on long stalks, have three lobes with the central one being much larger than the other two. The yellow flowers, which are single or in clusters, can be seen from May to September.


Bulbous buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus) (pictured above)

This is similar to the meadow buttercup but each stem has a swollen base and each leaf has a stalked central lobe. The sepals bend down rather being close to the petals. Bulbous buttercups flower earlier than meadow buttercups, being evident from March to June, and they prefer drier conditions to those favoured by the meadow buttercup.


Celery-leaved buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus)

Not only is this species less common than the others, it is also not so easy to spot given that its flowers are much smaller and it does not throw out runners. It has hairless lower leaves without a stalked central lobe. The fruit forms an elongated head.

© John Welford