Globe Flower
Botanical: Trollius Europaeus
Family: N.O. Ranunculaceae
---Synonyms---Globe Trollius. Boule d'Or. European Globe Flower. Globe Ranunculus. Globe Crowfoot. Lucken-Gowans.
---Part Used---The whole plant, fresh.
---Habitat---Northern and Central Europe, from the Caucasus and Siberia to Wales and sometimes Ireland. Found wild in northern counties of England and in Scotland.
---Description---The plant grows usually in moist woods and mountain pastures, and is about 2 feet high, the stalk being hollow, smooth, and branching towards the top, each branch bearing one yellow flower without a calix, shaped like that of Crowfoot. The leaves are beautifully cut into five, indented sections. It is a favourite bloom for rustic festivals, and early in June collections of it are made by youths and maidens to decorate cottage doors.
It is often cultivated as a border flower, as are the other two species of the genus.
---Constituents---The Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm affirms that these plants have medicinal properties, but lose the greater part of their active principles in drying. The irritant, acrid principle is not well defined, and appears to be destroyed by the action of heat.
---Medicinal Action and Uses---It is stated that Trollius is used in Russia in certain obscure maladies, while another authority claims that it has cured a scorbutic case declared incurable by doctors. It is a plant to be investigated.
---Other Species---
T. Asiaticus, or Asiatic Globe Flower. The leaves of this species are larger than in the European plant, resembling those of Yellow Monk's Hood, although the stature of T. Asiaticus is less. The flowers are an orangetinged yellow. It is a native of Siberia, but can be grown in any garden with shade and a moist soil.
T. Laxus is yellow, and grows in shady, wet places on the mountains of New York and Pennsylvania.
See:
CROWFOOT, CELERY-LEAVED
CROWFOOT, UPRIGHT MEADOW
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