Buttercups
This week I am going to discuss the buttercup, the quote for this week is a poem written by Mary Howitt called Buttercup and Daisies (1838);
Buttercups and daisies-
Oh the pretty flowers,
Coming ere’ the springtime
To tell of sunny hours.
While the trees are leafless,
While the fields are bare,
Buttercups and daisies
Spring up here and there.
Ere the snowdrop peepeth,
Ere the crocus bold,
Ere the early primrose
Opens its paly gold,
Somewhere on a sunny bank
Buttercups are bright;
Somewhere ‘mong the frozen grass
Peeps the daisy white.
Little hardy flowers
Like to children poor,
Playing in their sturdy health
By their mother’s door:
Purple with the north wind,
Yet alert and bold;
Fearing not and caring not,
Though they be a-cold.
What to them is weather!
What are stormy showers!
Buttercups and daisies
Are these human flowers!
He who gave them hardship
And a life of care,
Gave them likewise hardy strength,
And patient hearts, to bear.
Welcome yellow buttercups,
Welcome daisies white,
Ye are in my spirit
Visioned, a delight!
Coming ere’ the springtime
Of sunny hours to tell-
Speaking to our hearts of Him
Who doeth all things well.
The Buttercup belongs to the Ranunculi’s family. There are three most common varieties of Buttercup; creeping, meadow and bulbous. The creeping buttercup is the most common, this is the one you would most likely see in your garden. The name buttercup comes from the colour and shape of the flower that resembles a tiny cup of butter. The colour of the buttercups has its own symbolisms; optimism, new beginnings, joy and positivity.
The Buttercup flower symbolism is childishness; this can be seen in the game of holding the buttercup flower under your chin and if your skin looks yellow than you must love butter. The reason this happens is the cellular structure of the flower allows for reflective properties. The yellow pigments in the petals’ surface layer gives the flowers its bright colouring, the shiny gloss is because of the layers of air beneath the surface reflecting the light like a mirror. This makes the Buttercup unique within the plant family however, both butterflies and birds wings do a similar thing.
The claim that butter is yellow because cows graze on buttercups is not true, they are in fact toxic for cows so should not be consumed by them. The story comes from a farmer’s prized cow who gave the sweetest milk because she only grazed on yellow buttercups instead of grass like the other cows.
The other legend attached to Buttercups is tale of The Miser and the Fairies; in this story the fairies made the Buttercup flower, the fairies saw an old miser crossing the field with a sack of gold, they asked him for assistance and help, the miser refused and continued on his way. As he was leaving the fairies cut a hole in the sack of gold and as he walked across the field the coins fell out of his sack, and Buttercups sprang from where the coins fell.
The Buttercup flower tracks the sun, on cold days it uses the cup shape of its petals as a satellite dish to collect sunlight to warm up the flower, it can boost the temperature of the Buttercup up 3 degrees.
Sources
Flowers and their meanings – Karen Azoulay
The healing power of flowers – Claire Bowen and Eva Nemeth
Exotic Flowers in Boston – The Symbolic meaning of the Buttercup
Spe Candle – Buttercup: A Botanical History – Logie Retail
Flower meaning – The Buttercup Flower: Its meanings and Symbolism – Buttercup Flowers
The Guardian – Secrets of the shiny yellow Buttercup – Paul Simon
