Looks can be deceiving. Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria L.), or fig buttercup, appears to be a sweet little exotic plant that wouldn’t harm anyone. But ask the native spring-blooming plant community, and they will tell you the truth about lesser celandine. That is, if you can even find a native spring bloomer to ask. Once lesser celandine has been introduced to an area, all you will find is lesser celandine.
Like other invasive plants, lesser celandine is a robust non-native that was introduced to the U.S. sometime during the 1800’s as an ornamental. While it is pretty, it didn’t have the predators or diseases that kept it in check in its native homeland. This gave lesser celandine a huge advantage over the native plants. As it competed with the native vegetation for food and sunlight, it won.
Identifying Lesser Celandine
It has spread like wildfire through woodland areas in the Northeast and in the Pacific Northwest. Today, it is considered an invasive plant in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and in the District of Columbia.
Lesser celandine blooms in March and April with happy yellow blooms. The blooms are nestled into deep green heart shaped leaves. It quickly spreads and covers the ground. The roots are tuberous, and this plant spreads by seed, too. Visit this link for a look at lesser celandine.
Lesser celandine is available for purchase in many varieties. Regardless of color, all cultivars should be considered invasive.
Controlling Lesser Celandine
Lesser celandine is challenging to control and remove. It is possible to manage a smaller growth by pulling or digging up the plant and the tubers entirely. Don’t leave a bit of tuber behind, or it will explode back into action.
Wet the ground first to make the job of weeding a bit less toilsome. And, just know that the process will take persistence and vigilance. Watch the area for new growth.
Digging and pulling may disrupt native plants as you disturb the soil. Believe it or not, chemical treatment is the recommended method for eradication of this plant- especially for larger areas of infestation. Choose a regular glyphosate herbicide, and use several applications during the short window of time during late winter and early spring as new growth begins. Always follow instructions on the label.
Alternative Plants to Lesser Celandine
Lesser celandine looks a lot like the native marsh marigold. It also inhabits marsh marigold territory, so the marsh marigold is an excellent alternative to lesser celandine. Wild ginger is another good option. Wild ginger is a native spring wildflower that boasts deep green foliage and is a successful groundcover in lieu of lesser celandine.
Bloodroot is a perennial spring bloomer that is an endangered species in many states. This dainty ground covering beauty would appreciate a helping hand to get re-established in areas where it has been ousted by the lesser celandine. And twinleaf is another less common wildflower worthy of seeking out and planting as an alternative to lesser celandine.
Celandine poppy is another yellow and happy alternative choice. This early spring bloomer is perfect for a woodland garden. This plant plays well with others, unlike the lesser celandine.
Don’t let invasive plants fool you. Plants like lesser celandine are taxing wildlife habitats to the point of no return. When these seemingly pretty plants overtake the beautiful native ones, it upsets the balance to the wildlife that depend on the vegetation to survive.
Do your part by being aware of the invasive plants in your area. Spread the word, but don’t spread the problem. Simply avoid planting these dangerous species. Be a conscientious gardener!
Want to learn more about getting rid of invasive fig buttercup?
Check these resources out:
Weed of the Week: Lesser Celandine
Fig Buttercup from USDA National Agriculture Library
Creative Commons Flickr photo courtesy of joysaphine
Is there a granular product available for the average homeowner to use that will attack the “Lesser Celandine” weed.
I had a lawn service last year take care of the turf, in the hope that this would be controlled. It however really has made no difference, in fact looks worse {spread).
Thank you
we like it a lot
It makes a nice potted indoor houseplant, but the article has already explained why, even though it is pretty, it is a problem.
no it i not
you’ll be sorry!
Will a weedkiller direct on the leaf help to eradicate? Our garden is full of the stuff we are taking up plants and slowly pulling out the white tubes as well as the green leaf with a clay soil it’s difficult. We only emptied the garden last year and replanted and at that time no site of this so have no idea how we have now got it in all areas. But to be taking out bulbs and plants again we only put in last year is soul destroying I am hoping we are removing a large amount but don’t think we can get every bulb tuber etc so next year we will be doing the same again. We have no where to put other plants to leave a season.
We have been doing the same backbreaking, soul destroying labor for the past 6+ weeks! Digging and digging trying to get every last tuber/bulb (impossible). I found a photo I took of it after planting about 3-4 in 1996 (IGNORANT) – I don’t remember which garden store sold them in spite of being declared an invasive species in Virginia. Now in the lawn, all over the yard, both sides of the house – a sudden explosion this year – maybe because of all the rain?? We are putting them in plastic bags (ugh!) and into the trash – not into compost. Now planning to reluctantly use Glyphosate on some areas where the babies have returned.
have it in my garden shoveled it up sift garden soil it took about a eek put all foliage black plastic bags sit in the sun hopefully killed them trash them this early spring weather here they come back trying to burn them out this year with propane torch heating ground also around them tubes hopefully i get a handle on it but i think ill be torching for awhile yet haven’t turn soil yet i think the seeds are big problem lot of sprouts the larger leaves expect tumblers which are a problem maybe ill need a bigger hotter torch ,,Glyphosate would be poison my garden soil
I’m curious how the blow torch worked. I’ve thought about doing this myself. We bought a house on 3/4 acre with beautiful gardens…..all until the Lesser Celandine showed up everywhere, and I mean everywhere, in the spring. Had I known it was here I would have probably never bought the property. We have begun the gruesome work of digging it out, but it leaves us no time to care for anything else and feels hopeless with a whole 3/4 acre…. so really curious as to if the torching worked for you!
We use the torch and it works pretty well. The benefit over using chemicals is that it doesn’t harm the soil and grass will grow back faster. It’s impossible to get rid of it completely, but it will minimize the spread and prevent it from taking over your yard.
I have some dirt with it in in a trash can over winter. With no water and no sunlight for more than 6 months, it is still growing in the trash can and looks very healthy. I am shocked that it grows so well under these conditions.
Will laying sod over lesser celandine kill the celandine
I asked this before but it has not showed up in this discussion – Is this weed toxic to animals??? thanks Laraine C
My goats and cattle will eat it and show no ill effects. The goats prefer the leaves and the cattle will graze it to the ground. But, the cattle stomping all over seems to make it spread.
It is toxic to animals… that’s part of the problem. It overwhelms food sources that are beneficial to wildlife, domestic animals and beneficial insects
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficaria_verna
Welcome to the lesser celandine club! You’ll eventually realise that the poison you use won’t work and digging and removing plants carefully before the corms are present and doing this year after year is the only solution. It all had to be bagged and sealed and buried or burned.
They other way which we have considered is renting a digger, removing the top soil to below celandine depth, disposing of it properly and re-soiling.
Or, understand it and live with it.
Really, is a clinically perfect garden that important in this world that folks have to go around spraying that poison shit Monsanto and others sell?
The problem with trying to “live with it” is that it takes over everything in your garden, your neighbor’s yard, and the natural areas, if there are any nearby. Areas that used to be lush with dozen of spring wildflowers are now just carpets of this invasive plant.
I wish lvng with it was an option, when I moved into my house 4 years ago we didn’t have any, but it was in my neighbors back yard. 2 years later after some very wet winters it has now completely taken over my half acre back yard. Like literally every inch of grass is lesser cleanliness. Every square inch of top soil comes up with hundreds of these little tubers. Manual eradication would literally be impossible at this point. Unless I were to rent a digger and remove about 3 inches of top soil from my entire yard. And it would be very likely that it would come back anyways if you missed even a small amount of them.
I did a bunch of research after finding lesser celandine in my lawn. The first year, I dug it up and put it into bags. Problem is, you have to dig around 6″ deep to get it all. That was fine when I only had a few spots. I just filled in the holes with some leftover topsoil I had. The next spring, year 2, all around where I dug it up were small amounts of it. So I apparently didn’t get it all. Health issues prevented me being more diligent that Spring. But I did order IronX on line in the Fall because digging it up was not an option. I waited until early this Spring to hit the spots with it. I really wanted to use IronX as it has no harmful chemicals and doesn’t kill the grass all around it. We had a very rainy Winter (SE PA). I went out in early March and sprayed the lesser celandine with IronX. I marked my calendar for 4 weeks later to hit it again, which I did. I can’t believe how much of this weed I have in my lawn. It has spread so much. It is everywhere here-alongside creeks, in the woods, whole properties are covered with it. That is what I am trying to prevent. It spreads from so many different sources: the rain, birds, deer and likely the lawnmower. I used up all of my IronX. I only bought enough for 8 applications of 1 gallon each application which goes fast. All of the IronX on line was sold out in Feb. I do not want to use Roundup. Another product which is supposed to be effective in eradicating lesser celandine is Fiesta Selective Post Emergent Weed Killer. You have to have 26.52% of Iron for it to work, not less, both for IronX and for Fiesta. And both IronX and the Fiesta are expensive. I can see why many people turn to Roundup as it is much less expensive and readily available. A gallon of Fiesta on Amazon costs $119.00. Now granted, you only mix 5 oz. of the liquid iron weed killer to one gallon of water, but with applying it twice, perhaps 3 times over the Spring, to every spot which becomes a clump before you know it, which becomes a 4′ x 4′ patch etc. ,and for consecutive years, this is one expensive weed. So you may want to wait until the Fall to find either the IronX or Fiesta on line, perhaps on sale. Even an expensive Garden Center near me doesn’t carry either product. Nor do their vendors. If you read the University of Maryland study on lesser celandine on line, you will see how pervasive this weed is, taking over all other natural plant life, which the birds and small animals depend on for food. Good Luck and GET RID OF LESSER CELANDINE!
So…. did the IronX work?
Our yard has been infested with Lesser Celandine for years. Getting worse (our whole neighborhood is covered with it. As we have pet dogs, and are unwilling to use Roundup or any glyphosphate concoction, we tried digging up the corms last year, which helped, but it was backbreaking and time consuming work and we did not nearly eradicate it. It came back this year almost as bad as last year. This year we used Fiesta, which uses the same iron chelate solution as Iron X. Fiesta is NOT cheap. But I’m here to say IT WORKS!
I mixed a solution about 10% stronger than the Directions indicated. I also added a few drops of Dawn dish soap to my mixture to help it stick to the leaves. We caught our plants just at the verge of blooming, lots of foliage. We sprayed with household garden sprayers you can find anywhere. We live in a very wet climate. But we had a window last week that was dry (spraying in the rain doesn’t make any sense). We sprayed our whole half acre two times in two days and had two days of dry weather after our spraying. We really doused it, especially any flowers that were blooming. Now, five days later, the Lesser Celandine is all black and dying. It did not affect any other of our flowers or plants.
We still have a half gallon of Fiesta left, which we’ll use to spot shoot any missed spots and maybe for next year if anything comes up.
I was not at all optimistic when we began this project, and results were not immediate other than the plants looked a little “sad” after they got sprayed a second time. But five days later, it is clear they are dying and not like they do every spring after they flower. They turned black. We’re very happy. I cannot recommend Fiesta highly enough. Strong dosage, a few drops of Dawn dish soap and two (or possibly three) applications in dry weather and you should have it on the run!
which fiesta? Turf weed killer or selective weed killer?
I have been digging up lesser celadine (tubers and seeds) for the last 3 years, even relocating 20 hosta plants, and the celadine has returned.
Are you seeing a difference this spring where you applied the Fiesta?
Thank You
Please let me know (I guess I can’t give my email here, it says won’t be pub.) via this blog how things are going as of now, March 13 or 2022.
Bill Cahalan, Cincinnati OH
Does iron X work
There is a project about this with a bunch of pictures on Inaturalist. It does look hopeful.
Please, did the iron-x work. I’m overwhelmed. It’s destroying my garden.
We oversee a public rose garden with 650 rose plants. The grass surrounding the beds is now overgrown with lesser celandine. I guess its been spreading for a while, but just presented it’s flowers this spring. Everything I’ve been reading indicates glyphosate is the product of choice, but I’m afraid with it being a systemic, it’s going to kill all the roses too. Your thoughts??? All help is appreciated.
glyphosate is not a systemic
The lesser Celandine was introduced to my garden when I transplanted from my brother’s. I though, pretty. Then quickly saw what was happening.
ALTERNATE TREATMENT: My solution is to pour boiling water over the plants. This treatment will take out only what it is poured over and not damage the soil.
Awesome! Thank you!
ManyThanks to “S.P. Clark“ for posting on February 15, 2020 at 8:08 PM.
This was the clearest and most informative Reporting of one persons objective and careful note taking on their own progress against lesser celandine.
It would be great if they can give us an update next year, both in terms of how much that was treated, comes back up again next year if it does, and The same good reporting of what they are doing in early spring next year. I am doing the hard work of pulling up as much as I can by hand on an approximate half acre space in which perhaps Approximately 15% of the plantable area has either full coverage of lesser celandine or already “metastasized “spots all around the property, which I intend to dig up wherever there are individual plants.
So hard to get simple scientifically minded advice online, so very thankful I found you guys keep up the good work, and I will report my findings and progress next spring, to add to our collective data on how best to deal with this Beautiful but unbelievably rampant species. Thanks again JT westchester New York
But did it kill the underground tubers?
Boiling water!!! That is ingenious! Friends, do NOT use Glyphosate. I attended a lecture about it at MIT and the science seems to indicate that it can cause terrible, lifelong problems, including cancer, to people and animals. Yet, Monsanto got legislatures across the U.S. to agree not to ban it after Quebec made its use illegal. The abject lack of concern for consumers by that company is criminal…or should be!
UGH UGH UGH!! I have enjoyed reading this post. I have waged war on this plant for at least 6 to 8 years. Exhausted thousands of dollars with soil removal, digging, round-up. Not sure how it got into my garden and several other people in the neighborhood as well. I have somewhat given up and have found perennials which seem to be OK surrounded and smothered by a carpet of this pest.
I live in Niagara Falls NY. These shade plants do not seem to mind the lesser celadine: any type of hosta, coral bells, any type of fern, purple cone flower and black eyed susan. Creeping Jenny is hit or miss, in some areas of the garden it thrives, if not explodes with the lesser celadine. creeping myrtle, sedum, flowering wintergreen. These plants also seem ok but I have to be vigilant at pulling back the weed in early spring so i make sure to mark the areas with bamboo spikes: astibles, bears breeches, bleeding heart, peony, guara. Also sage, mint, chocolate mint seem to thrive as well and are easily controlled.
Although i am not fond of Round-up, this year in late February very early March, I experimented along paths and around the hostas (protecting area with cardboard) and sprayed every day as the plant emerged. it seemed to work. We shall see what that area does next spring.
I’m going to try planting a new ground cover this year: creeping thyme. I try to introduce new perennials every year in groups of three to see what survives.
Best of luck to anyone with this horror of garden plants!
This weed is breaking our backs. We have it invading a hill and a lovely lower lawn in Boston. It goes everywhere. We have only had success digging it up. This spring we have employed a screen sifter to help save dirt but throw away everything that is suspect. Our window is closing an next year we will aggressively attack at first sight. We have lots of new trees that prevent roundup everywhere but if you dig deep enough, or get the plants befor they get too deeps, you can make slow steady progress. The right tools really help
Hi! I’m interested to learn what screen you used? Is there a certain product or screen mesh gauge that you recommend? I’ve been struggling to find a sieve that is sturdy, but with mesh fine enough to prevent the smallest of the tubers from going through. Any links would be MUCH appreciated!
We moved to North Canterbury NZ nearly a year ago and did not see any signs of this horrendous plant in October. It sprang to life July/August of this year. After researching lesser celandine my heart sinks as I look out the window into different garden areas full of it, all over the property and now invading the lawn. Hundreds of these plants everywhere!!! with deep roots. Before doing research I threw it in the compost and of course it taken root in there. As time and energy allows I will sift through and bag but will try glyphosate 360.
Because lesser celendine spreads through corms and seeds, I pulverized all the lesser celendine in my garden with a weed dragon…and I mean pulverized to destroy the seeds. Now I will hit it with Fiesta several times b/c I am sure it will continue to grow. The good thing about Fiesta is you can plant grass seed rather quickly. I have used roundup in past years, but probably not enough since it continued to return year after year. That said, I don’t want to use roundup anymore. As far as it returning next year, I am hopeful, but not optimistic. We shall see.
Someone has a project with pictures about this on inat.
www
inaturalist.org/projects/affects-of-iron-hedta-based-herbicides-on-lesser-celandine
I moved into a house that had this spreading randomly throughout the front and back yard. I read many articles and used a few tacts last year and this year. The one that worked the best was to cover the infected area with a layer of cardboard, and about 6″-12″ of leaves when they come down in the fall ( have 5 big leaf maples so it makes it easy). I checked under the leaves this spring and no signs of growth this year. I plan to repeat this for 2 more years for good measure. I think you could also accomplish with wood chip mulch at a similar thickness. basically suffocate the damn things.
I tried boiling water, but didn’t work. Not sure how you get boiling hot water from your stove to your yard without it cooling down… Just didn’t seem to do much.
I dug some of them out, but feel like that actually made things worse.
I spot sprayed with the glyphosate worked to kill them above ground this year, we will see how strong they come back next year. I hear this process takes at least 3 years, and really only works as a maintenance. I don’t really like the toxic nature of this strategy,…
I recently read that Sunflowers can have a Allelopathic Effect on plants near by (especially for potatoes and night shade which seem similar to me) and was wondering if this could be an option. I feel like sunflowers would be easier to eradicate once the celandine is gone. Just a left field idea…..
Last year I decided it was time to make total war on lesser celandine, which was taking over my garden. I carefully dug up quantities of the flipping stuff with the earth still clinging to it because I didn’t want to risk leaving any of the tuber behind. Then, bit by bit, I fed the demon into a large IAMS cat-kibble can and poured boiling water to the top. When it had cooled, I used the earthy water to water my plants and dumped the cooked celandine in the compost. This year about 20% of it was back, and I dug it up again and gave it the boiling treatment. I know it will return, but there will be diminishing returns.
This is pretty labour-intensive, but it works. Good luck to all!
Earlier I sprayed with a cool herbicide from Bonade covered it and have been digging isolated plants up. I get rid of it by putting it in large garbage bags and putting them in the garbage. LC is terrible Mary Jane Bolo
it is growing around perennials such as Japanese Forest Grass – Hakonechloa macra-hosta-
I can only dig and pull but know much is left behind. Cannot use herbicide. and the roots
of those lovely perennials are tight–hard to dig around. Last fall i had 5 yrs of mulch \spread
and its growing on top of the mulch. so much for smothering
Dear SP Clarke, and Karen,
You both wrote, in 2020, about using an iron-based herbicide, Fiesta and Iron X respectively.
But you haven’t written about 2021 or 2022 (I’m writing this 3/31/22) results! I wish you’d give a follow-up here. Even if there’s been poor effectiveness, it would be good to know this so I can not just repeat your financial expense and failed experiment. And, of course, if you’ve had some success, that would be great to know as well.
Thanks,
Bill Cahalan, Cincinnati Ohio
513-251-2558
I too am looking for answers on how to get rid of this stuff. According to this post, iron does not work well.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/affects-of-iron-hedta-based-herbicides-on-lesser-celandine/journal
I did find an encouraging comment (where?). For my need, I don’t want to use a non selective, but I will try the Milestone:
“We have done several years of research here in Oregon on eradicating this weed. There are two herbicide formulations that when combined do a number on this weed. Imazapyr, we use the aquatic approved version; ecomazapyr (non-selective), and milestone which is aminopyralid.(selective) You will need to read labels and decide on rates and see what works in your situation; but when combined and using a good surfactant, we get one shot-one kill.”
What plants can be planted that will push it out Celadine if possible?
So does the iron work? I need to use something that isn’t toxic to wildlife and pollenators.
I have recently heard about planting Golden Ragwort (packera aurea) amongst lesser celandine to overtake it. The writer said it took three years, but worked. Has anyone tried this?
We have ‘lived’ with it for many years, but I feel badly that it’s spreading and I know it’s taking the place of natives that could be popping up. We have balanced that with planting many pollinators and natives all of which push through the celandine. Wild geranium is especially good at holding it’s own – the celandine ( so far) hasn’t touched it.
I’m interested to try the Iron X/Fiesta – thanks for that info! Good luck everyone.
Last year we invited a bunch of our native-living pals to help us weed the huge rain garden we had recently planted with all kinds of native plugs. Lesser celandine had taken over this garden, and we were beside ourselves. It seems like the neighbor’s lawn service and landscapers had gotten the celandine tubers on their tires, and as they mowed, they spread it all over her lawn, which is adjacent to ours.
This year, I think we’ll try to eradicate the tubers immediately around the remaining native plants that are growing in this area.
Then we’ll use Shore Klear with a surfactant to treat the celandine when we have a dry window. I’ll read the labels to know when it’s ok to plant after the application.
As I surveyed the garden this March, I saw that many of the native grasses we planted in this rain garden area were flourishing. ( Later on, I will try to post which grasses these were, specifically. ) We have an abundance of the Celandine Poppy (Celidonium magis) in other gardens, so we might try to plant the area with it, along with plugs of true Marsh Marigold. It might be too moist for the true poppy though.
We’ve got to beat this thing!
I picked up the celandine from the town’s free mulch pile to cover paths in the flower garden, The second year I say the pretty flowers and didn’t think much about it, this year it has gone wild, I’m looking for a treatment to get rid of it, so far I’m just digging it up but sooo labor intensive! It seems to stay away from wild geraniums.