The aggregate of F. verna (formerly called Ranunculus ficaria) includes several entities which are rather difficult to identify; it is present throughout Italy, from sea level to montane belt. The primary habitats are hygrophilous forest edges, but today the species is more common in damp disturbed sites, where it grows on silty-clayey, fresh to moist, neutral to sub-acid soils. The species is sporadic on the edge of the Sardinian temporary ponds, mostly in shaded areas. Some forms reproduce vegetatively by stolons and bulbils, often forming almost pure clonal populations. As in all buttercups, the fresh parts are poisonous (protoanemonin). The old generic name in Latin means 'little frog' and was used since ancient times only for the aquatic species of the subgenus Batrachion, also a diminutive of the Greek 'batràchos' (frog); the current generic name in Latin means 'fig-like' perhaps because of the large size of the leaves. Flowering period: January to May.

Italian name(s): Favagello (Italia), Ficaria (Italia), Ranuncolo ficaria (Italia).