Wanted: Invasive Plant at Large‍

Suspect: Ficaria verna, aka Lesser Celandine

• A spring ephemeral native to parts of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa.

• Identified by its dark green, waxy, kidney shaped to circular leaves and bright golden flowers that have 8-12 petals.

• Introduced as an ornamental during the 1800s.

• Most prevalent in floodplains, moist lowland, and riparian areas near bodies of water, but it easily and quickly spreads in to upland areas if left untreated.

• Populations spread mostly through disturbance of its near surface-dwelling root nodules or corms, but it can also disperse seed. Due to the nature of these corms, scraping boots after entering or hiking in an area with celandine is imperative. Secondary to riparian areas, trail edges are where the spread stems from.

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Here at Cincinnati Nature Center, Lesser Celandine was most likely introduced by the Krippendorf’s (original land stewards) as a pop of early spring color to their ever-expanding garden. In the 18 and 1900’s, it was common practice to mimic the old-world European aesthetic of landscapes here in the U.S. To this day, we celebrate many of Carl Krippendorf's additions to Rowe Woods as ‘Legacy Plants.’ While many Legacy Plants are not native, they remain on our property as reminders of what once was here. We know that Carl worked with the information he had at the time, and while 1000s of transplanted species either died out or don’t continue to spread, there were a few that ended up as modern day invasive plants. These weedy traveling plants became an exception to the Legacy Plant’s title, and we currently work to remove them from our property.

That’s where we find ourselves in 2026: deep in the trenches of an inherited problem with a steep slope to management.

It is not the first year we’ve noticed an issue with competition between Lesser Celandine and native ephemerals, nor is it anywhere near the last. However, it is the first time that we are throwing every resource we have at trying to ‘stop the bleeding.’

Visitors have brought the plant’s invasive nature to staff’s attention throughout the past decades. While they were correct in concern, the Nature Center simply did not have the resources that we have today. To begin with, Land Management as a department wasn’t founded until 2008. At its inception, there were many management issues to work through, and Lesser Celandine wasn’t yet something to prioritize. The combination of time, removal of other invasive species, and inconsistent management until more recent (2016) history, have left us with a dilemma: abandon the management altogether due to scale of invasion and potential collateral issues, or uncover a management trajectory that prioritizes current celandine removal and reduces future re-invasion.  

So, what do we do?

To date, research has not given us a cut and dry method for removal that will work on a long-term basis, with re-invasion of areas happening anywhere from 3-5 years. With over 300+ acres carpeted in the plant, and a treatment window of sometimes less than a month per year (depending on weather), the problem at Rowe Woods is daunting. Our strategy for 2026 and the next few years requires the following: practical knowledge gathered from professionals across the state, current research regarding removal techniques, topographical mapping of our own property, and off-site contractors. With this combination, we feel confident in our ability to significantly reduce the population and bring some much-needed competition relief to our sensitive native wildflowers.