Marsh Marigold, Caltha palustris L., Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, Cowslip, King's Cup

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Marsh Marigold	Caltha palustris L.	Buttercup	Woodland (bog)	Spring
Other names and notes	(Yellow Marsh Marigold, Cowslip; King's Cup). Found throughout the bog area of the Woodland Garden. One of the first splashes of green to show in the bog, followed by the brilliant yellow flowers that resemble giant buttercups. Flowers persist while the bog greens-up. The leaves are heart shaped with shallow teeth and not divided; basal leaves grow on long stalks, stem leaves are alternate and on short stalks. Total height can be from 8 to 24". The leaves are somewhat toxic. The flowers which rise from one of the leaf stalks, have no real corolla, but have from 5 to 9 sepals (no petals). The species name means "of the swamp" - a plant of wet places. Caltha was a Latin name for Marigold, derived from the Greek calathos, meaning a cup or goblet and referring to the flower shape. The plant can have a re-bloom in the autumn. Eloise Butler first reported seeing this on Nov. 3, 1908. Her notes on this plant are given below.


Above: Flower images early May, far below - of late April.
Below left: A seed head formed at the end of May. Right: Mature seeds

Notes: This plant is indigenous to the Garden area. Eloise Butler first reported seeing this on Nov. 3, 1908. Every part of the plant is an irritant. The raw leaves contain helleborin, which has a burning taste and is toxic, causing violent gastritis if eaten. This chemical can be removed by twice boiling. The plant is native to most counties in Minnesota except those in the dryer SW corner.

Eloise Butler wrote of this plant: "Now is the time that we are enticed to buy from children on the streets big bunches of the cheerful Marsh Marigold. For she always sits with her feet - roots - in the water, and only barefooted boys are likely to reach her, although “Enough for everybody and to spare” is her motto. The plant is wrongly called “cowslip.” The true cowslip is a European primrose and resembles the marsh marigold only in color. Wordsworth’s Peter Bell would have stopped to pick the young leaves of the marsh marigold for greens - something more substantial than mere yellow flowers. Both the marsh marigold and the primrose are familiar flowers in Europe, and both are named in Jean Ingelow’s “Songs of Seven.” (Published in the Sunday Minneapolis Tribune, May 7, 1911)

Mrs. Grieve (Ref. #7) reports that the English name Marigold refers to its use in church festivals in the Middle Ages as one of the flowers devoted to Mary. Shakespeare refers to the flower several times.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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