MARSH MARIGOLD
I often walk in the glen that runs through the center of my town. Parts of the area have been left in a semi-natural state and during the growing season I look for, and frequently find, flowers. Early spring brings several patches of snowdrops, which were probably “planted” by light-fingered squirrels that lifted them from nearby gardens. As the season progresses, purple violets appear along with the small native claytonia, which are pink and white and hug the ground in mid-spring. Eventually, in May, the wild raspberries and blackberries bloom just a little before the multi-flora roses. The latter are non-native plants and are enormously invasive, but smell wonderful. Dandelions bloom from spring until frost. In the fall, white-flowered wild ageratum competes with asters that cap the season with small blue daisy-like flowers.
This year I noticed another flowering plant, marsh marigold or Caltha palustris. Judging by the size of the clumps, which were small but well established, I am sure that it is hardly new to the glen. It is just the first time I have laid eyes on them.. Growing in damp soil, marsh marigolds have five-petaled yellow flowers with a healthy cluster of golden stamens in the middle of each one. They hug the ground, growing only an inch or two high. The dark green leaves are heart or sometimes kidney-shaped and tend to be shiny. I would never have noticed these little plants if not for the bright flowers. When I went back to the same spot about five days later, the flowers were already gone and I had to look sharp to spot the leaves. The characteristic short-lived blossoms place marsh marigold securely in the group of flowering plants that are sometimes called “spring ephemerals.” Trilliums fall into this category as well. True to the nickname, the ephemerals push up through the ground, bloom, set seed and often die back by early summer. For those of us who find philosophical resonance everywhere, the spring ephemerals are a yearly reminder of the transitory nature of all things–especially beautiful ones.
Sometimes Caltha palustris is called “King Cup”, but it also goes by lots of other common names that vary by country and region. It is native to the northern hemisphere and occurs naturally in both the Old and New Worlds. Its cup-shaped flowers and fondness for wet spots prompted Linnaeus, the great eighteenth century taxonomist, to christen the plant with names that reflected those facts. “Caltha” is probably derived from “calyx”, the Latin word for “cup”. “Palustris” is also from Latin and means “marshy” or “swampy”. Though it is often called marsh marigold in America, Caltha palustris is not related to the garden marigold, which belongs to the genus Tagetes, or the pot marigold, which is known to its botanist friends as Calendula.
Gardeners often set great store by relationships, so it is important to know that marsh marigold is a member of the buttercup or Ranunculaceae family. Other prominent buttercup family relatives include clematis, columbine, anemone, nigella and hellebore. If you can imagine a wide-open buttercup flower, you will have a pretty good idea of what marsh marigold looks like.
Marsh marigold blooms in early spring, providing pollinating insects with much needed sources of pollen and nectar. Some sources indicate that the plants are ancient, having emerged as the vast glaciers of the last ice age receded and melted away. Though they have managed to survive this long, marsh marigolds are jeopardized in many locations by the same forces that have diminished the populations of other wildflowers–development. As with other wildflowers, you should enjoy them when you see them and feel free to take pictures. Do not pick the flowers or dig up any of the plants, even if you find them in an out-of-the-way place where you think it doesn’t matter.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t have marsh marigolds, and, in fact starting a clump in your garden can help preserve the species. You can sometimes obtain seeds or plants from specialty nurseries, but be careful. Buy only those plants that are nursery propagated and grown. If the catalog or online plant information doesn’t mention this, make sure to ask. One reliable source for nursery propagated and grown Caltha palustris and many other wildflowers is the New England Wildflower Society, 180 Hemenway Road, Framingham, MA 01701; (508) 877-7630, or online at www.newfs.org (go to the homepage and click on the “Grow” tab). The plant list is available online, but there is no printed catalog.