Ranunculus asiaticus Butterfly Galatea® - Persian Buttercup

Ranunculus asiaticus Butterfly Galatea® is a Persian buttercup with vibrant and warm orange flowers, eye-catching in spring. Like other varieties in the Butterfly series, it offers a light flower that lasts a long time in a vase, but it flowers a little earlier than its sisters. With its generosity and colour, it revives cut flower arrangements, borders and flowering containers.

This variety belongs to the Ranunculaceae family. It derives from Ranunculus asiaticus, the Asian buttercup, Persian buttercup or garden ranunculus. The botanical species is native to a vast area stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to western and southwestern Iran. It is a tuberous plant of open, sunny environments and well-drained soils, dry in summer. In our climate, it is often grown as a seasonal flower, as it does not tolerate wet and cold winters.

Butterfly Galatea® is a horticultural creation by the Japanese breeder Aya Engei. It is part of the Butterfly series, developed for cut flowers and quality cultivation, with well-branched stems, early flowering and a long vase life. Galatea® first forms a clump of lobed, medium to bright green leaves, somewhat like flat-leaf parsley. The foliage on the stems is more finely divided. The aerial vegetation develops in late winter, then disappears after flowering when the plant goes dormant. The root is formed of small, elongated tubers joined in a claw. In open ground, the plant reaches 40 to 55 cm in height and 20 to 30 cm in width. Each stem can bear 5 to 7, sometimes 8 flowers. The corollas are large, shiny, semi-double, in the shape of well-opened cups. Their colour is a vibrant orange, nuanced with apricot or golden highlights depending on the stage of blooming. The darker centre enhances the brilliance of the petals. Flowering can begin in February under cover or in mild climates, but it is generally in April-May in the garden. The Asian buttercup can withstand temperatures down to -5 °C in short spells in very well-drained soil. By digging up the tubers in autumn, before frosts, you can grow it like a gladiolus.

In the garden, Butterfly Galatea® can be placed in a neat border, a large container or a spring border with warm colours. You can pair it with the almost black Triumph tulip 'Havran', double early tulip 'Brownie' in copper, bronze and burnt orange tones, daffodil 'Modern Art', yellow with a vibrant orange frilled crown, and Carex testacea 'Lime Shine' for its fine, flexible, luminous green foliage.

The Asian buttercup has long nourished the art of florists and the passion of collectors, to the point of being one of the great florist's flowers well before the rise of modern varieties.