More Signs of Spring

Today I saw my first Celandines in flower. 

Lesser Celandine

Their scientific name is Ranunculus ficaria.  The buttercup also belongs to the Ranunculus family and you can see the similarity in the shiny yellow petals. Remember holding a buttercup under a friend's chin to see if they liked butter?  Which they would if the sun was shining and the yellow reflected off the petals.

The Gorse, Ulex europaeus, is another early bloomer, but the petals are a more lemony colour and are protected by fearsome spikes. You certainly would not want to hold that near your chin!

Gorse

I was walking by the River Calder when I saw some shiny green beetles on a large rock.   They were quite small, maybe 5mm,  and they don't look like much until you get a close up.  Then the colours were stunning in the sun.

They obligingly stayed put while I photographed them with the macro lens attachment on my phone, and they are fantastic - the Newtonmore scarab!

Although it was a beautifully sunny day, there were some shady areas that were just as pleasant, especially with the sound of water running over the rocks of this small burn that crosses the track.

If you have been following my posts during the winter, you will be wondering why there is no mention of lichens yet.  Continuing with the bright yellow theme, here is the brightest yellow lichen around,  Chrysothrix candelaris. Chrysothrix means "Golden Hair. 

 Usually the yellow lichens have a chemical sunscreen called parietin that gives them their colour, but this lichen grows on the shady side of the tree and  the colour is thought to be from chemicals that protect it from being eaten. Parietin has been investigated as a potential anti-cancer drug.  You can read more about it here.

Spring at last?

During the last week, I walked the circuit up Glen Banchor and back by the Calder Path and - at last- found some plants flowering.  Until now, my main distraction has been spotting frogs and frog spawn in the patch of water by the old birches.
On the Calder path, there were patches of Celandines in the damp areas.  Their full name is Lesser Celandine.   They grow in damp places and can be seen along the Spey and near streams.   They are easily spread by the tuberous roots which are transported with soil and there is a good batch of them in the tub by the Newtonmore Village Hall!
The petals are shiny yellow and vary in number, but there are always 3 sepals.  The leaves are deep green and heart or kidney shaped.

Lesser celandine flowers

Lesser Celandine leaves

The scientific name has recently been changed from Ranunculus ficaria  to  Ficaria verna.  Ranunculus is the buttercup family and you can see the resemblance as they both have shiny yellow petals, but in fact they are different families (genera) hence the change of name. Verna means Spring. As for Ficaria,  I can't improve on the description given in the Oxford 400 Plants:

"The name Ficaria ('little figs') was first used for the lesser celandine by the early-sixteenth-century German botanist and theologian Otto Brunfels. Brunfels's Herbarum vivae eicones (1530-1536) has the twin distinctions of being one of the earliest botanical books to contain naturalistic illustrations and to be banned by the Vatican as heretical. Brunfels's 'little figs' are overwintering tubers at the plant's base. Under the Doctrine of Signatures these tubers were thought to resemble haemorrhoids, hence another of the plant's common names, pilewort."

The Oxford site is fascinating  - don't you want to know what use medieval beggars made of the plant?

Links
Oxford 400 Plants Ficaria verna