null

Ficaria verna 'Fried Egg' (Celandine)

£6.50
Aspect:
Full Shade
Aspect:
Full Sun
Aspect:
Light/Partial Shade
Soil Type:
Most Types
Colour:
Yellow
Colour:
White

Sorry, sold out, but we'll be growing more. Enter your email address for an alert when next available.

Plant Overview

Celandine are one of the delights of early spring and among the first plants to flower. This variety has buds that open orange-yellow and then petals fade to white with an orange-yellow centre, making the flower resemble a fried egg.

Discovered by R. Hoskins in 1992 near Plymbridge.

Plants die back to fleshy tubers in May and reappear in January. A wonderful herald of spring.

Some flowers may stay orange-yellow, especially when young.

Good for under-planting trees and shrubs or alongside a hedge. Also good in large containers to add early interest. Naturalises to form good-sized clumps.

Happy in any soil that isn't permanently waterlogged. Good drought resistance when established.

Height: 8cm

Although the common lesser celandine can be counted as a weed, the hybrids and cultivars tend to be much better behaved and are not as invasive. They are all happy in shady or open sunny positions.

Common name(s): Lesser Celandine Fried Egg

Syn: Ranunculus ficaria 'Fried Egg'. 

Myth, legend and history:

Lesser celandine has been used in cooking throughout history. The plant’s roots swell up to form bulbs or tubers, which are reputedly delicious and can be eaten as a starchy vegetable. Lesser celandine has been used as potherb in central Europe and the young parts of the plant have been added to salads.

Celandine flowers given as a gift implies Joys to Come or reawakening. "Let this harbinger of spring speak to you of my love". Wearing a fresh celandine flower against the skin is alleged to enable the wearer to avoid any traps set for them and escape unwanted imprisonment. This may be due to another power attributed to it, that  of ensuring the wearer wins the favour of judge and jury when appearing in court. 

The plant is known as pilewort by some herbalists because it has historically been used to treat piles (haemorrhoids). Lesser celandine is still recommended in several "current" herbal guides for treatment of haemorrhoids by applying an ointment of raw leaves as a cream or lanolin to the affected area. Supposedly, the knobby tubers of the plant resemble piles, and according to the doctrine of signatures this resemblance suggests that pilewort could be used to cure piles.

Edward Thomas wrote a poem entitled "Celadine". Encountering the flower in a field, the narrator is reminded of a past love, now dead.

Upon Wordsworth's death it was proposed that a celandine be carved on his memorial plaque inside St Oswald's Church, Grasmere, but unfortunately the greater celandine Chelidonium majus was mistakenly used.

The Lesser Celandine - William Wordsworth

There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine,
That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain;
And, the first moment that the sun may shine,
Bright as the sun himself, 'tis out again!

When hailstones have been falling, swarm on swarm,
Or blasts the green field and the trees distressed,
Oft have I seen it muffled up from harm,
In close self-shelter, like a Thing at rest.

But lately, one rough day, this Flower I passed,
And recognised it, though an altered form,
Now standing forth an offering to the blast,
And buffeted at will by rain and storm.

I stopped, and said, with inly-muttered voice,
"It doth not love the shower, nor seek the cold:
This neither is its courage nor its choice,
But its necessity in being old.

"The sunshine may not cheer it, nor the dew;
It cannot help itself in its decay;
Stiff in its members, withered, changed of hue."
And, in my spleen, I smiled that it was grey.

To be a Prodigal's Favourite -then, worse truth,
A Miser's Pensioner -behold our lot!
O Man, that from thy fair and shining youth
Age might but take the things Youth needed not!

All our plants are supplied in 9cm pots unless otherwise specified. Plants in this size pot establish quickly in the garden and often outpace plants in bigger pots planted at the same time. Our potted plants can be planted immediately, unless otherwise noted, or you can leave them in their pots until you are ready to plant.
The majority of our plants are grown outdoors. This means that they follow their natural growth patterns and are ready to plant at any time of the year. If you order the plants in winter, they are likely to be dormant and died back to ground level, ready to shoot again in spring - just like the herbaceous perennials in your own garden. Very occasionally, in winter and early spring, we may indicate on the packing slip that a plant needs to be hardened off before planting out. This will be because it has just come out of a polytunnel. If you have any questions about our plants or growing methods, please feel free to drop us an email.
We grow most of what we sell ourselves, in our nursery in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Our prices include VAT at 20%.
Please note: We do our best to provide acurate photographs of the plants we sell, but colours display differently on different screens, printers and in different light and we cannot guarantee that what you are seeing on your screen, or on the plant label provided, will exactly match the plant when it flowers in your garden.