Lesser Celandine
Ranunculus ficaria
-85
Severe harm
Not native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 47%
- Height
- 4–12 inches
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to moist
Do not plant. Listed invasive in West Virginia.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
Not yet recorded · Spread · Light · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 5 West Virginia counties.
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
—CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimGrowing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Ranunculaceae
What its natural habitat tells you
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Height · “4–12 inches” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
Also known as
Ranunculus ficaria
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- West Virginia DNR invasive plant list
- USDA PLANTS
- NatureServe Explorer
- West Virginia occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications