Additional notes (click to expand)

Medicinal

Culpeper: “... for such as have the yellow jaundice, it opens obstructions of the liver ... if chewed it the mouth, it helpeth toothache.”
Culpeper, Nicholas. (1650). A Physical Directory . London, Peter Cole.

Lindley recommended it for curing opacities in the cornea, despite noting that the yellow sap was a violent acrid poison and a popular remedy for treating warts.
Lindley, John. (1838). Flora Medica, Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans

No relation to the lesser celandine, Ranunculus ficaria, it has yellow flowers and yellow sap, which, according to the Doctrine of Signatures, indicated that it should be good for jaundice. Dioscorides recommended it for this, for shingles, toothache and for improving sight.
Gunther, R.T.. (1938). The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides ... Englished by John Goodyear.

Nomenclature

Chelidonium is Greek for the bird, the swallow. It was said to come into flower when the swallows arrived and to stop flowering when they left. In Greece, swallows arrive in the spring, in England in the summer, so it is always in flower here before the swallows arrive.
Oakeley, Dr. Henry. (2011). A Year in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, revised edition. Royal College of Physicians, London. link

Other use

It was also thought to recover the sight of blind fledgling swallows. According to Aristotle, quoted by Johnson, the eyes of newborn swallows are immature (‘not fully fledge’) and ‘if a man do pricke them out, do grow againe, and afterwards do perfectly recover their sight’ even without the use of this herb. This is an interesting observation on the potential of stem cells, if true
Gerard, John. (1975). The Herball or General History of Plants, Dover Publications Inc.. Johnson, Thomas. Facsimile 1633 ed

Chelidonium majus is a Myrmecochorous plant. It produces seeds with elaiosomes, a term encompassing various external appendages or "food bodies" rich in lipids, amino acid, or other nutrients that are attractive to ants. The seed with its attached elaiosome is collectively known as a diaspore. Seed dispersal by ants is typically accomplished when foraging workers carry diaspores back to the ant colony after which the elaiosome is removed or fed directly to ant larvae.[2] Once the elaiosome is consumed the seed is usually discarded in underground middens or ejected from the nest. Although diaspores are seldom distributed far from the parent plant, myrmecochores also benefit from this predominantly mutualistic interaction through dispersal to favourable locations for germination as well as escape from seed predation.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmecochory July 2014

Toxicity

Its sale is legally restricted because of hepatotoxicity, reported by the World Health Authority.
Oakeley, Dr. Henry. (2011). A Year in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, revised edition. Royal College of Physicians, London. link

Contains isoquinoline alkaloids that may cause diarrhoea, vomiting and liver damage when ingested. Still available as a herbal medicine in some countries.
Professor Anthony Dayan, 2022

Geographical distribution

  • Africa, Macaronesia, Canary Is.
  • Africa, Macaronesia, Madeira
  • Africa, Northern Africa, Algeria
  • Africa, Northern Africa, Morocco
  • Asia-Temperate, Caucasus, Transcaucasus
  • Asia-Temperate, Middle Asia, Kazakhstan
  • Asia-Temperate, Mongolia
  • Asia-Temperate, Siberia
  • Asia-Temperate, Western Asia, Iran
  • Asia-Temperate, Western Asia, Turkey
  • Europe, Eastern Europe
  • Europe, Middle Europe
  • Europe, Northern Europe
  • Europe, Northern Europe, Great Britain
  • Europe, Northern Europe, Ireland
  • Europe, Southeastern Europe
  • Europe, Southwestern Europe

Chelidonium majus L.

Family: PAPAVERACEAE
Genus: Chelidonium
Species: majus L.
Common names: Greater Celandine; Swallow Wort
Pharmacopoeia Londinensis name: Chelidonium majus
Distribution summary: N.Africa, Eurasia
Habit: Perennial
Hardiness: H5 - Hardy; cold winter
Habitat: Dry hills, walls, wasteland, limestone, damp, spring soils
Garden status: Not currently grown
Flowering months: May, June, July, August
Reason for growing: Medicinal, toxic


Back to List