Flora of North America species comparison

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Chelidonium majus

celandine, devil's milk, greater celandine, swallow wort
Habit Plants to 10 dm.
Stems

branching, ribbed.
Leaves

to 35 cm;

petiole 2-10 cm;

blade deeply 5-9-lobed;

margins irregularly dentate or crenate, rarely laciniate.
Inflorescences

peduncle 2-10 cm.
Flowers

pedicels 5-35 mm;

sepals to 1 cm;

petals bright yellow, obovate to oblong, to 2 cm wide;

style ca. 1 mm.
Capsules

linear to narrowly oblong, 2-5 cm, glabrous.
Seeds

black, reticulate-pitted.

Chelidonium majus
Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Moist to dry woods, thickets, fields, hedgerows and fences, roadsides, railroads, and waste ground
Elevation 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; DE; IA; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The irritating sap of Chelidonium has been used to treat warts. In the vegetative state, this weedy introduction from Eurasia is difficult to distinguish from the native Stylophorum diphyllum.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Papaveraceae > Chelidonium
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 505. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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