One of the most familiar and beloved plants of European undergrowth, belonging to the Ranunculaceae family. Distributed throughout temperate Europe, from the British Isles to western Russia, from the north of the Iberian Peninsula to Scandinavia, extending eastwards to western Siberia. An indicator plant of old stable forests, particularly beech and oak forests with fresh and humus-rich soil, where it can form carpets of considerable extent, testifying to forest continuity over long periods.
Geophyte with a creeping horizontal rhizome, dark brown, fragile and branched, slowly developing into dense colonies. Leaves trisected with lobed and toothed segments, tender green, borne on long petioles. Flowering stem 10 to 25 cm, slender, bearing a whorl of three cauline leaves similar to the basal ones and a solitary terminal flower composed of 6 to 8 pure white tepals, often washed with pink or purple on the reverse, surrounding a central cluster of yellow stamens. Early flowering, from March to May, exploiting the available light before the trees bud — a typical spring strategy of forest geophytes.
Phenologically ephemeral plant: the foliage disappears entirely by early summer, with the plant spending the rest of the year in underground dormancy. All parts are toxic, containing protoanemonin, irritating to mucous membranes and skin. Despite this, or perhaps because of its discreet beauty and spring abundance, it was collected and selected very early on, giving rise to a remarkable number of horticultural cultivars: forms with double flowers, numerous tepals, blue-lilac, pink, pure white, green colors, or with bronze or variegated foliage. Among the best known are 'Robinsoniana' with pale blue-lilac flowers, 'Vestal' with double white flowers, 'Leeds' Variety, 'Allenii' or 'Bracteata Pleniflora' with greenish and leafy flowers.