Winter Aconite

Here's a small swath of winter aconite, or Eranthis hyemalis, growing near the Edgeworthia I posted about yesterday.   I love this sunny yellow flower, which grows from a tuber in the spring.  Leaves and blossoms emerge at the same time in early spring and when the forest canopy becomes more dense, the plant has adapted to lose its above-ground parts and become dormant. This phenomena, in regards to plants, is called aestivation.

Eranthis is in the Ranunculaceae or buttercup family.   The leaves are peltate, which means they don't have petioles.  To me, they look like the ruffled collars you'd see on a clown.

As cheery as this plant is, keep it the hell away from your belly.  It's infamously toxic, as it was what Medea used to poison Theseus.  It evidently tastes quite bad, so you'd be unlikely to actually digest it. Er- is ancient Greek for 'early' and -anthis of course means flower, so the plant is an early spring flower.