Myth and Folklore: Buttercups

Over time, some myths bear themselves out; Neil Armstrong, for example, stepping from the Lunar Landing Module, clearing his throat, and proclaiming, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for...hey...wait. Uh, guys? Houston? Guys?"

"Uh, what is it Neil?"

"It is made out of green cheese!"

Neil Armstrong, as we all know, didn't discover the moon to be made of green cheese - (Of course he didn't. The entire Apollo Program was filmed in the Nevada desert.) - and another myth became the stuff of fairy tales. But some myths turn out to be true, or on the right track, or at least have some footing in fact. Such is not the case with buttercups; not where butter and cows are concerned, anyway.

Shiny buttercups were once thought to give butter its deep luscious golden color in the spring. Dairy farmers were so convinced of this, some went so far as to rub the flowers on the cow's udders, as well as hang the flowers over the barn door, to help make the milk rich with golden cream. Obviously this is one myth steeped in la-la land, but more than that, buttercups are very acrid, and can cause blisters. Rubbing them on a cow's udders is not the way to make friends with a cow.

In reality, grazing animals avoid buttercups. It can poison them, and make a cow's milk unpalatable.

Not all that blisters is bad, though, or at least is not without its uses. Beggars in Europe once rubbed buttercup juice on their skin. This raised sores, making them that more pathetic seeming, encouraging passersby to be more generous with their alms.

Buttercups also found their way into the Doctrine of Signatures, which is a great fount of botanical myth. According to the Doctrine of Signatures, the shape of a plant, or some part of that plant determined it's medicinal applications. For example, if a plant's leaves resembled a snake's skin, then that plant was used to treat snake bites. If its tuber looked like Aunt Martha's nose, then it was used to treat the old gal's sniffles.

Of the Doctrine of Signatures and Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), a type of buttercup, Nicholas Culpepper (1652) wrote, "...if you dig up the roots of it, you shall perceive the perfect image of that disease which they commonly call the Piles. It is certain by good experience that the decoction of the leaves and roots doth wonderfully help Piles and Haemorrhoids..." He also wrote, "With this I cured my own daughter of the King's Evil, broke the sore, drew out a quarter of a pint of corruption, cured without any scar at all in one week's time."

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