Description

A spring-flowering, low growing, herbaceous, tuberous perennial. Rich green-coloured, palmately lobed basal leaves form a rosette on top of the soil. Each upright stem supports a bright yellow, cupped flower cradled on a collar of deeply lobed stem leaves. Flowers have a sweet, honey scent. It is a spring ephermeral…with leaves emerging in late January, setting flowers with seed pods following…the whole process taking a mere two to three months before the plant disappears below ground again to rebuild its strength for a beautiful floral display again the following winter.

Eranthis hyemalis is a winter hardy understory plant, preferring placement under deciduous trees whose bare branches allow sunlight to reach the ground throughout the winter months. This plant is non-aggressive…it does not run rampant through the garden.

Deer, rabbit, and squirrel resistant. Not many disease problems, although smut…black spots appearing on leaves, caused by a fungus in the genus Urocystis…can be devastating. It is best to carefully dig up the infected plant and place it in the garbage…before the black spores are released to infect other plants in the colony.

Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit 1993

For more about this plant: Eranthis hyemalis