Buttercup

What is a buttercup? A buttercup is a spring- and summer-flowering perennial plant with yellow flowers that grows close to the ground.

Buttercup runners.
Buttercups on a lawn.

Buttercups can be found in open meadows and prairies as well as woodlands. They can grow to 60cm, but they can also survive if they are cut back in a garden lawn. In that case the stems are very short.

Buttercups are often a troublesome 'weed' in a garden because they spread by runners as well as seed. The runners stretch over the ground, and then grow new roots and shoots where they touch the soil. In this way they can spread rapidly. They can also grow from pieces of runner.

Buttercups have five bright yellow petals and are attractive to many insects.

A variety of buttercup grows in marshes and swamps and will be found beside rivers.

Video: Buttercup.
Video: Lesser Celandine: spring buttercup.

Explore these further resources...

(These links take you to other parts of our web site, never to outside locations.)

You can search in these books:


You can look in this topic for more books, videos and teacher resources:

Jump to Plants and animals toolkit screen
The toolkit screen link will take you to a library containing a selection of:
an i-topic, more books, pictures, videos and teacher's stuff related to the search word.
© Curriculum Visions 2021