The celery-leaved buttercup, Ranunculus sceleratus, on a quake site on
Colombo St, Beckenham, Christchurch
When I was shopping at Opawaho Organics in Beckenham two weeks ago the proprietor Susan Turnbull mentioned that a weed she had never seen before had sprung up on the site of the row of old shops which had been demolished following the damage they suffered in the February 22 earthquake. Presumably the seed had been lying dormant under the buildings all those years.
She took me over the road so that I could see for myself, and it was one I had never seen before either. Susan had researched it and found it was the celery-leaved buttercup, Ranunculus sceleratus.
R. sceleratus is one of the more poisonous plants of North America and Eurasia, causing blisters is applied to the skin and inflammation of the tongue if chewed fresh. It does have some traditional medicinal uses in Europe and in America it was used as an arrow-tip poison.
I stopped to look at a quake site some 2 km away from Beckenham and saw the weed growing there as well. If anyone reading this lives in Christchurch and has or knows children who might be playing on quake sites, please warn them not to touch this weed.
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