Buttercups and Columbines 59 
the likeness to be an indication that it was a cure for 
the complaint. Hear old Nicholas Culpepper on this 
point :— 
“Behold here another veri- 
fication of the learning of the 
ancients, viz., that the virtue 
of an herb may be known by 
its signature, as plainly appears 
in this; forif you dig up the 
root of it, you shall perceive 
the perfect image of the dis- 
ease which they commonly 
call the piles. It is certain, 
by good experience, that the 
decoction of the leaves and f , 
roots doth wonderfully help ES ANN SS 
piles and hemorrhoids, also po ga \ \ 
kernels by the ears and : ae | i 
throat, called the king’s eae 
evil, or any other hard wens 
ortumours..... The very 
herb borne about one’s body next the skin helps 
in such diseases, though it never touch the place 
grieved.” 
Before the first flowers appear, the Celandine 
lengthens its stem slightly, and the leaves that grow 
from the stem vary from those that grow from its 
base, in the fact that they are more or less acutely 
lobed, and thus approaching somewhat to the shape 
of ivy-leaves. They have rather long leaf-stalks, 
which are widened at their base so that they can 
clasp the stem. The stem branches from the lower 
part, and at intervals bears solitary flowers on long 
Lesser Celandine’s fleshy roots 
