One day, while walking in a meadow near our house, I met a little boy. He asked, "Do you know why the yellow meadow flower was called buttercup?" Then I drew attention to the small yellow flowers that completely covered the meadow, and thought. I could not answer this question.
Buttercup is familiar to everyone from early childhood. In nature, there are a large number of its species. We have the most common species - caustic buttercup. This is a herbaceous perennial plant, reaching a height of one meter, naked or slightly pubescent, with a straight stem. Its flowers reach two centimeters in diameter, have five golden yellow petals. The plant blooms in late spring and during the summer. Buttercup acrid grows in meadows, clearings, in light forests and as a weed in the fields. There is a variety with double petals, which is grown as an ornamental plant.
Few people who admire the beautiful sunny stars in the meadow know why the yellow meadow flower was called the buttercup.
All plants are not named by chance. Therefore, any name of a plant can tell an interesting story about its owner. The same happened withbuttercup.
Absolutely all parts of it are poisonous. Therefore, it is impossible for the juice of the plant to get into wounds, cuts and scratches. In addition to being poisonous, the flower is also a medicinal plant. In folk medicine, it is used to treat gout, rheumatism, neuralgic and headaches.
…It has been many years since that meeting in the meadow. During this time, I have read a large number of books about plants, articles from newspapers and magazines that talk about the names of plants. And now I can say with confidence why the yellow meadow flower was called buttercup.
So, the name arose precisely because of its burning and poisonous juice. "Burning" in a popular way means "fierce". It entered the Russian language in a diminutive form for the small size and beauty of the flowers. And so the affectionate word "buttercup" appeared.
In some places in Russia, the plant is also called night blindness. According to beliefs, chickens go blind from these flowers, and people, inadvertently rubbing buttercup juice on their eyes, stop seeing for a while.
In Italy, because of the bright yellow shiny petals, this plant is called "golden buttons".
There is a tradition among the people on Holy Week during Great Lent to lay yellow buttercups on the Virgin Mary. According to one of the legends, Jesus Christ decided to present flowers as a sign of love and respect for his Mother. To do this, he turned the stars from the sky into small flowers - buttercups.
There is another version of the origin of this plant's name. It could have come to us fromLatin, where the word "luteum" means yellow.
Scientifically, the genus buttercup is called ranunculus. This Latin name appeared a long time ago, and it is translated into Russian as “little frog”, since buttercups growing wild, like frogs, prefer to settle in humid, but warm and sunny places. Whatever the answer to the question of why the yellow meadow flower was called a buttercup, we always associate this plant with summer and the sun.
