The lesser celandine is a native of Europe, Northern Africa and Western Asia and was introduced to the United States sometime in the 1700th centaury as a horticultural plant. This creates year-round competition for root space with all types of plants not just spring wildflowers. Though the lesser celandine is an ephemeral plant, meaning the above ground vegetation disappears by summer, the belowground tubers are ever present. These tubers look like small fingerlike projections off the roots and are easily visible when the plants are uprooted. This plant produces an abundance of below ground tubers (bulbous roots) that occupy and compete with other vegetation. Above ground you can see the dense green carpet of vegetation that blankets the soil surface, but parts you can’t see are just as detrimental to other vegetation. The lesser celandine occurs in such abundance that it out-competes and crowds out other competing vegetation. For this reason the Maryland Invasive Species Council has selected lesser celandine as April’s Invader of the Month. Also known as the fig buttercup, this pretty yellow flowering plant now dominates the floodplains of many forested streams of central Maryland loving the rich soils and heavy shaded habitats they provide. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, ĪNNAPOLIS, MD (April 9, 2012) – What is that beautiful lush green vegetation growing all along over that floodplain with pretty yellow flowers? That is the incredibly invasive lesser celandine ( Ficaria verna).
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