page_title: Caltha palustris
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Caltha palustris / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Wiosenne rozlewiska Narwi i kaczeńce Caltha palustris. Łomżyński Park Krajobrazowy Doliny Narwi. English: Spring backwaters of Narew and marsh-marigolds Caltha palustris. Łomża Landscape Park of the Narew Valley, north-eastern Poland. This is a photography of protected area with CRFOP ID PL.ZIPOP.1393.PK.74
context_page_description: Caltha palustris, known as marsh-marigold and kingcup, is a small to medium size perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It flowers between April and August, dependent on altitude and latitude, but occasional flowers may occur at other times.
context_section_description: The marsh-marigold grows in places with oxygen-rich water near the surface of the soil. It likes richer soils, but dislikes application of fertilizer and avoids high concentrations of phosphate and ammonium, and is also shy of brackish water. It is often associated with seepage that is rich in iron, because iron ions react with phosphate, thus making it unavailable for plants. The resulting insoluble mineral appears as "rusty" flocs on the water soil and the surface of the stems of marsh plants. Around the edge of lakes and rivers it grows between reeds, and it can be found in black alder coppices and other regularly flooded and always moist forests. When it is present it often visually dominates when it is in bloom. It also used to be common on wet meadows, but due to agricultural rationalization it is now limited to ditches.
  It is a component of Purple moor grass and rush pastures – a type of Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the UK. It occurs on poorly drained neutral and acidic soils of the lowlands and upland fringe.
  In western Europe, the marsh-marigold moth Micropterix calthella bites open the anthers of the marsh-marigold and other plants to eat the pollen. The caterpillars that are present in summer and autumn also feed on marsh-marigold, although these are sometimes found on mosses too. Another visitor of Caltha palustris in western Europe is the leaf beetle Prasocuris phellandrii, which is black with four orange stripes and around ½ cm and eats the sepals. Its larvae inhabit the hollow stems of members of the parsley family. In the USA (Illinois) two species of leaf beetle can be found on Caltha: Plateumaris nitida and Hydrothassa vittata. The maggots of some Phytomyza species (Agromyzidae) are miners in Caltha leaves.
caption: The marsh-marigold on spring flood plains of the Narew river.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "78", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "202", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "21270", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB"}