CHELIDONIUM MAJUS.-COMMON CELANDINE. 
Class XIII. POLYANDRIA. Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, PAPAVERACHL — THE POPPY TRIBE. 
Fig (a) represents a petal; (6) a stamen with its anther; (c) the stigma at two different periods of its growth ; (d) the pod and seeds. 
Common Celandine, or Greater Celandine, so named in contra-distinction to Ranunculus Ficaria, Pilewort 
Crowfoot, which was called by the old botanists Lesser Celandine, is a perennial plant, growing wild in 
hedges and uncultivated grounds, especially on chalky soils, in Britain and other parts of Europe. It delights 
in moist, shady situations, growing principally among rubbish, in the neighbourhood of villages, and flower- 
ing in May and June. “We perceived it,” says Professor Burnett, “ in the garden hedge at the Spaniards, 
on Hampstead Heath, and also near Downshire Hill; as well as by the road side near Richmond, in Surrey, 
plentifully.” It is one of those plants to which, on account of the very acrid and poisonous qualities of its 
juice, we have allotted a place in the present volume. 
The Celandine rises from a spindle-shaped root, with a round leafy, somewhat hairy, branched stem, 
swelled at the joints, to the height of two feet. The radical leaves are numerous, smooth, very deeply pin- 
natifid, or divided to the rib into two or three roundish and indented lobes, of which those of the extremities 
are the largest, of a bright green colour on the upper side, and glaucous or bluish-green underneath. The 
leaves arising from the stalks are of the same form, but of a paler colour, and placed alternately. The flowers, 
which are of a golden-yellow colour, are borne in small umbels on long, generally hairy footstalks, arising 
from the axillae of the leaves. The calyx is inferior, consisting of two roundish ovate, concave, acute, deci- 
duous leaves. There are four roundish, spreading petals ; the filaments are numerous, usually about thirty, 
shorter than the corolla, having oblong, compressed, obtuse, erect, two-lobed anthers. The germen is supe- 
rior, cylindrical, the length of the stamens, terminated by a small obtuse, heart-shaped, or cloven stigma, 
without a style. The seeds are numerous, ovate, smooth, with a crest along the upper edge, and contained 
in a linear, somewhat cylindrical pod, of one cell and two deciduous valves. They are disposed in two rows, 
on short stalks along a marginal receptacle, between the edges of the valves. 
A variety with very hairy stalks, and laciniated petals, has been supposed by M. De Candolle, and 
Lamarck to be a distinct species. It is mentioned by Clusius, Bauhine, and several other of the old botanists; 
it was found plentifully in the former part of the last century, among the ruins of the Duke of Leeds seat at 
Wimbledon ; and, according to Lamarck, was cultivated in the royal garden at Paris, a little before the 
French revolution. 
The generic appellation Chelidonium, from %e\ifov, a swallow, is said to be expressive of a popular 
tradition among the ancients, that swallows made use of its juice to restore the sight of their young if blinded. 
A more probable notion, however, is, that it derives its name from the circumstance of its flowering about 
the time when these birds make their first appearance in spring. 
Qualities. — Both varieties of Celandine agree in their medical qualities. The whole plant is very 
brittle, and exudes, when broken or wounded, an orange-coloured, fetid juice. Its taste is intensely bitter 
and acrid, occasioning a sense of burning in the mouth and fauces, similar to that produced by Cayenne 
pepper, which lasts for a considerable time. Both water, and rectified spirit extract nearly the whole of the 
active matter, which is most powerful in the root. The juice of the leaves is yellow, and gives a green tinc- 
ture to rectified spirit ; that of the root is of a deep safiron colour, and tinges the same menstruum of a 
brownish yellow. The pungency they possess is not of a volatile kind, for hardly any of it rises in distilla- 
tion ; yet it is lessened by drying the plant, or by inspissating with a gentle heat the spirituous or watery 
infusions. The parts of the plant employed in medicine, are the roots and leaves, particularly the former. 
Poisonous Effects. — The juice of this species is a violent acrid poison, producing inflammation in 
the textures to which it is applied. A writer on poisons, in the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, says he has seen 
