Chelidonium majus L.

Family: PAPAVERACEAE

Genus: Chelidonium

Catalan common name: Celadrònia. Celidònia. Herba d'orenetes. Herba de les berrugues. Herba dels ulls.

Spanish common name: Celidonia mayor. Celidueña. Hierba berruguera. Hierba de las golondrinas.

Province distribution: Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Castelló. Girona. Lleida. Tarragona. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Eurosiberian

Uses and properties: Medicinal.

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte.

Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Non-saline wetlands (intermittent watercourses, streams, artesian wells, ditches). In herbaceous communities, walls, road sides. Always in humid soils.

Characteristics: A herb with leaves divided into large lobules, two of them at the base. The flowers are yellow, with four petals, grouped in a kind of pedunculate umbel. When it bears fruit they form quite long capsules. A very important feature to differentiate this species is that it forms a yellowish-orange latex with caustic properties. It lives in fresh, moist grasslands.