[4][5] Native to Europe and Western Asia, it is now introduced in North America, where it is known by the common name fig buttercup and considered an invasive species.

[6][7][8][9] The plant is poisonous if ingested raw and potentially fatal to grazing animals and livestock such as horses, cattle, and sheep.

[12] Lesser celandine is a hairless perennial plant to about 25 cm (9.8 in) high, growing in clumps of 4-10 short stems, on which the leaves are spirally-arranged or all basal.

Some clumps give rise to long stolons to 10 cm (3.9 in) or more, allowing vegetative spread to produce extensive carpets of plants.

[14] It produces large actinomorphic (radially symmetrical) flowers with a diameter of up to 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in), on long stalks arising individually from the leaf axils or in loose cymes at the top of the stem.

[17] Lesser celandine grows on land that is seasonally wet or flooded, especially in sandy soils, but is not found in permanently waterlogged sites.

[18] In both shaded woodlands and open areas, Ficaria verna begins growth in the winter when temperatures are low and days are short.

[21][12] Erosion and flood events are particularly effective means of spread, as the plants are very successful at colonizing low-lying floodplains once deposited.

ficariiformis are tetraploid and capable of colonizing new areas much faster because they produce bulbils in their leaf axils[23]: 126 [20] in addition to root tubers.

[10] Lesser celandine is pollinated by bees, small beetles, and flies, including Apis mellifera, Bibio johannis, Phora, and Meligethes.

[19] Since Ficaria verna emerges well before most native species, it has a developmental advantage which allows it to establish and dominate natural areas rapidly.

[27] In the United States, where lesser celandine is considered a plant pest to gardens, lawns, and natural areas, many governmental agencies have attempted to slow the spread of this species with limited success.

[28] USDA APHIS considers Ficaria verna to be a high-risk weed that could spread across 79% of the United States, anticipating possible impacts to threatened and endangered riparian species.

[36] In one case, a patient experienced acute hepatitis and jaundice when taking untreated lesser celandine extracts internally as an herbal remedy for hemorrhoids.

[42][43] Lesser celandine is still recommended in several "current" herbal guides for treatment of hemorrhoids by applying an ointment of raw leaves as a cream or lanolin to the affected area.

[42] Mesolithic Hunter gatherers in Europe consumed the roots of the plant as a source of carbohydrates boiled, fried or roasted.

[53] C. S. Lewis mentions celandines in a key passage of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Aslan comes to Narnia and the whole wood passes "in a few hours or so from January to May".

Coming suddenly round a corner into a glade of silver birch trees Edmund saw the ground covered in all directions with little yellow flowers - celandines".

They appear to be a favorite of the protagonist, Paul Morel: ...going down the hedgeside with the girl, he noticed the celandines, scalloped splashes of gold, on the side of the ditch.