Pilewort
Lesser celandine; Ficaria
- Known today as
- Ficaria verna (Ranunculus ficaria), of the buttercup family, whose glossy yellow stars open in early spring above knobbed roots.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- ranunculin, protoanemonin, saponins, and 1 more
- Poisoning
- Buttercup blistering
- Earliest authority here
- Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 30, 2026.
Caution. Irritant when fresh.
Pilewort: what was it used for?
For the piles, in ointments and poultices of the roots, which were thought to resemble them: the doctrine of signatures at its plainest.
Pilewort: what does modern science say?
No trial evidence. Fresh, it contains protoanemonin, which blisters the skin and irritates the gut.
Pilewort: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. Irritant when fresh. Its poisoning is buttercup blistering: Minutes to hours on the skin and mouth. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- ranunculin ChEMBLwhich yields protoanemonin on bruising
- protoanemonina blistering lactone
- saponins
- tannins
- Mechanism
- A buttercup: the fresh plant’s protoanemonin irritates and blisters, which on a haemorrhoid is a counter-irritant and nothing more; the dried plant loses it and keeps the astringent tannins. The resemblance of its root tubers to piles is the whole of its credential.
- Toxic dose
- The fresh plant blisters skin and mouth; the dried is harmless.
- Syndrome
- Buttercup blistering
- Standing
- No monograph; in the German tradition as an ointment for haemorrhoids, without trials.
- Wichtl, M. (2004). Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd ed., “Ficariae herba.” Book, seen in reviews
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Pilewort: what lore surrounds it?
Wordsworth’s flower: he wrote three poems to “the small Celandine,”.
Pilewort: what did the older authorities say?
- Pliny
- Pliny opens his chapter on plants discovered by animals with chelidonia, “by the aid of this plant that the swallow restores the sight of the young birds in the nest.” He knows two kinds; it is the smaller that answers to pilewort: it “has leaves like those of ivy, only rounder and not so white. The juice of it is pungent, and resembles saffron in colour, and the seed is similar to that of the poppy.” Both “blossom, both of them, at the arrival of the swallow, and wither at the time of its departure,” and the juice boiled with Attic honey is “a sovereign remedy for films upon the eyes.”
Sources
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Celandine, Lesser.” Book, not indexed
- Culpeper, N. (1652). The English Physitian. Primary text
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 25.50, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Primary text
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 4 cited: 2 primary text, 1 book, seen in reviews, 1 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 30, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Pilewort.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/pilewort.
- MLA
“Pilewort.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/pilewort. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Pilewort. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/pilewort
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See Also
Poisoned alike: buttercup blistering
Sharing protoanemonin, saponins, tannins
Helleborus niger · Dipsacus fullonum · Atriplex hortensis · Succisa pratensis · Verbascum thapsus · Plantago major · Botrychium lunaria
Also in Pliny the Elder
Polypody of mercurialis, syrup of in Pliny the Elder · Pennyroyal in Pliny the Elder · Ragwort in Pliny the Elder · Pearls, prepared in Pliny the Elder · everything Pliny the Elder names →
Drawing on the same sources: Grieve, Culpeper, Wichtl
Periwinkle · Pokeweed · The precious stones · Speedwell · Manna · Toadflax · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Pilgrim badges and ampullae · Peony (the kind formerly grown for its medicinal root) · Poison fire coral (finger-like fungus of Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia) · Penicillin mould (fruit, and damp)
Historical description, not medical advice.