The best yellow flower

This is Greater Celendine, Chelidonium majus. Although it is not thought to be a native plant (an ancient introduction from southern Europe) this is a plant I welcome in May along some of the hedge banks I know well. It is a delicate and rather fleeting flower, but for me it is the best yellow flower we have outside gardens and the combination of the custard-yellow and yellow-green leaves is just a joy to see.

Why this should be called a 'celendine' when it is a member of the poppy family and not closely related to the Lesser Celendine of the buttercup family is a bit of a mystery. The mystery is not fully unraveled, but is eloquently explored in Richard Mabey's book 'The Flowering of Britain' - well worth a read to understand the origins of many of our wild flowers.

One key idea is that the name relates to the Greek word chelidon, meaning a swallow, and that the appearance of this plant coincides with the return of the swallow. However, the Greater Celendine normally flowers a bit later than this event in most of the villages around me. Still a bit of a puzzle! Mind you, with all the uncertainties of this spring, I'm just happy to see the swallows flying over the village and the Greater Celendine in flower on a day when the temperature didn't get above 6 degrees!