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Ranunculaceae
Winter Aconite
Eranthis hyemalis
Hope, harbinger of spring, persistence.
- Family
- Ranunculaceae
- Genus
- Eranthis
- Native to
- Southern Europe
- Bloom season
- Late Winter, Early Spring
- Type
- Tuberous perennial
- Height
- 5–15 cm
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil
- Rich, moist, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate; goes summer-dormant
- Hardiness
- 3–7
- Lifespan
- Long-lived
Did you know
- Winter aconite is one of the very first flowers to bloom each year — often pushing up through snow alongside snowdrops in February.
- Each cheerful yellow buttercup-like flower sits on a frilly green collar of bracts that looks like a miniature ruff or starched Elizabethan collar.
- It's a member of the buttercup family and, like its monkshood cousin, contains toxic alkaloids — every part is poisonous if eaten.
- Honeybees flying out of the hive on a warm winter day can find pollen and nectar in winter aconite when almost nothing else is blooming.
- It naturalizes generously and can carpet woodland floors and lawns with golden stars during the bleakest weeks of late winter.
Color meanings
Yellow
Light returning