Greater celandine
| Greater celandine | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| Order: | Ranunculales |
| Family: | Papaveraceae |
| Genus: |
Chelidonium Tourn. ex L. |
| Species: | C. majus |
| Binomial name | |
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Chelidonium majus L. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Chelidonium majus, commonly known as greater celandine or tetterwort,(although tetterwort also refers to Sanguinaria canadensis), nipplewort, or swallowwort, is a herbaceous perennial plant, the only species in the genus Chelidonium. It is native to Europe and western Asia and introduced widely in North America.
While the greater celandine belongs to the poppy family, the lesser celandine belongs to the buttercup family.
The greater celandine is one of the many species described by the father of taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus, in volume one of his Species Plantarum in 1753. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, celandine comes from Late Latin celidonia, from earlier Latin chelidonia or chelidonium, and ultimately from Ancient Greek χελιδόνιον, from χελιδών (chelidṓn) "swallow". Ancient writers said that the flower bloomed when the swallows returned and faded when they left.
Greater celandine is a perennial herb with an erect habit, and reaches 30 to 120 cm high. The leaves are pinnate with lobed and wavy-edged margins, up to 30 cm long. When injured, the plant exudes a yellow to orange latex.
The flowers consist of four yellow petals, each about 1 cm long, with two sepals. A double-flowered variety occurs naturally. The flowers appear from late spring to summer in umbelliform cymes of about 4 flowers.
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Wikipedia