So successful it exists worldwide, there are hundreds of buttercup varieties. All are poisonous when eaten fresh, but the acrid taste and mouth blistering caused by the poison means it's unlikely a human would make a mistake. The poison reduces when amongst grass dried to make hay, so hay fed to livestock containing dried buttercups is safe.
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| Meadow buttercups in Hemingford Meadow in May. |
Do you like butter? Hold a buttercup under your chin and folklore says if there's a yellow reflection on your skin, it means you do. But the real reason the flowers seem to shine with an intense glittering yellow is nothing to do with butter. It's all about advertising the plants to insect pollinators from a great distance.
Creeping buttercups are the most widespread, infecting lawns and other grassland. Underground runners shoot out from the parent plant. Before you know it, you've got a lawn covered with golden buttercups, but little grass. The nectar and pollen rich flowers attract bees, butterflies and hoverflies. Creeping buttercup is also a food plant for beetles, leafhoppers, leaf mining flies and birds. There's no problem seeing creeping buttercups. They're everywhere throughout most of the year.
The other variety you're most likely to see is the meadow buttercup. Stunning when viewed across acres of flood meadow in May, this buttercup grows up to two feet in height with buttery-yellow flowers. The meadow buttercup spreads by seed rather than runners, one large plant producing tens of thousands of seeds.
Meadow buttercups are on display in May along the water meadows of the River Great Ouse. There's a stunning display in Hemingford Meadow in May. Take Cambridgeshire Walks route Hemingford Meadow.
For more nature topics and walks, click Cambridgeshire Nature Watch.
