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Sunday 6 October 2013

Buttercup

According to legend, the name buttercup derives from a belief that the plants give butter its characteristic yellow hue (in fact it is poisonous to cows and other livestock).

The symptoms of the flower's poisoning include excessive salivation, bloody diarrhea, colic, and severe blistering of mucous membrane and severe blistering of gastrointestinal tract.

The buttercup's scientific name, Ranunculus, originates from Latin, meaning 'little frog', as the plants often grow near water.

In USA, the buttercups are called coyote's eyes, because the legend goes that once a coyote was tossing his eyes in the air and catching them again. Then an eagle snatched them, the coyote was unable to see, and so he made eyes from the buttercup.

Buttercup flowers are beautiful golden-yellow cup-shaped plants. They belong to the ranunculus family, which has around 400 species of flowers, which include spearworts, water crowfoots, lesser celandine, and buttercups.

 The flowers get their bright colour from yellow pigments in the petals' surface layer, and their shiny gloss is due to layers of air just beneath the surface reflecting the light like mirrors.

The buttercups usually flower during the April or the May month, but can also be found throughout the summer season.

Sources Daily MailBuzzle.com

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