Medicinal Monday - Bright and Cheerful Meadow Buttercups

When we think of a buttercup some of us think of an old-fashioned term of endearment or the movie, the Princess Bride whose main character is Princess Buttercup. In nature, there is a showy yellow flower called Buttercup that is part of the family, Ranunculus, that has 275 types of buttercup species. Buttercups have many interesting medicinal uses that were practiced among Native American communities.

About Buttercups

Buttercups can be found in the temperate regions of both hemispheres of the world with a wide range of climates from cold mountain ranges to the tropics. Many species are native to North America including Ranunculus acris, or the Meadow Buttercup. These showy yellow flowers have numerous stamens and pistols arranged in a spiral fashion around a central axis. Buttercups are radially symmetric with five large yellow petals. They get their bright color from the yellow pigments in the petal's surface layer. Their shiny gloss comes from the layers of air just beneath the surface of the petals that reflect light like mirrors.

After they bloom, the petals fall off fairly quickly. The fruits of this plant are loose heads of one-seeded fruits called achenes.  In general, the Buttercup family is like a window back in time. None of today's species was around 100 million years ago, but the Buttercups and other primitive groups like the Magnolias have retained the most ancestral characteristics over the centuries. 

Medicinal Uses

The most common use of this plant was to treat headaches. The Abenaki would smash the flowers and leaves and sniff the resulting powder for headaches, while the Montagnais and Micmac crushed leaves and inhaled them for pain. The Bella Coola applies a poultice of pounded leaves to boils and the Cherokee uses a poultice of the entire plant to treat thrush and abscesses. They also use Buttercup juice as a sedative. The Iroquois make a poultice of the entire plant and put it on their chest to treat coughs and colds and to stop chest pain. They also make an infusion of roots and drink it to treat diarrhea. The Cherokee cook the leaves and eat them like greens.

Did You Know...

The scientific name of a buttercup, Ranunculus originates from Latin and literally means "little frog." It got this name because these flowers were often found by the water, just like small frogs. 

Buttercups are toxic to livestock and difficult to control. They are a major problem in New Zealand.

If eaten excessively buttercups can cause dermatitis in humans. If they are eaten fresh they leave an acrid taste and blistering in the mouth. The toxins can be degraded by drying.

Another name for a buttercup is crowfoot.

People sometimes hold a buttercup under the chin of a friend or family member to show off the flower's shiny petals that can be seen under the chin and said to "be like butter."