Ranunculus sceleratus

Latin name: Ranunculus sceleratus

Short name: Ran-s.

Common name: Celery-leaved buttercup | Marsh crowfoot | Cursed buttercup

Primary miasm: Psoric Secondary miasm(s): Sycotic, Syphilitic

Kingdom: Plants

Family: Ranunculaceae

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Symptomatology
Remedy Information
Differentiation & Application

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Mind

Acrid surface pain makes the patient irritable, fretful, and impatient of touch, especially when vesicles are fresh and oozing [Hering]. Children become peevish at bedtime and constantly rub ears or lips; the scolding increases itching, and the eruption burns more after a few scratches—exactly echoing the scratching → burning aggravation already noted [Clarke]. In adults engaged in wet work the temper dulls into a dissatisfied gloom that lifts on going to a dry, airy room, which mirrors the general better dry air modality [Clarke]. Anxiety is superficial and local—about the raw places cracking or becoming “poisoned”—rather than the constitutional fear seen in Arsenicum; unlike Rhus-t., there is no relief from hot bathing, which rather intensifies smarting in Ran-scel. cases [Boericke], [Farrington]. Concentration is hindered by incessant prickle; the mind clears when the skin is cooled, the discharge shielded, and clothing loosened. [Clinical]

Sleep

Sleep is broken by burning and smarting of the weeping places; children wake to rub ears or lips and cry until a cool cloth is applied; they sleep again when the part is dried and shielded [Clarke]. Adults disturbed after evening damp exposure; dreams trivial, centred on fret about sores; morning is better if the night has been kept dry and the room aired. Sleep illustrates and confirms the thermal/environmental polarities already documented. [Clinical]

Dreams

Of being in wet fields or losing shoes in mud; of scolding and rubbing sore places; they wake to scratch and must cool the skin—symbolic, as often in cutaneous remedies. [Clinical]

Generalities

Ranunculus sceleratus is a surface acridity remedy: watery blisters, acrid oozing, quick excoriation and ulceration, with burning after scratching, all worse from damp cold, fog, wetting, and friction, and better from brief cooling and then keeping dry. It occupies the skin–mucosa edge (mouth, lips, behind ears, nail-folds, laryngeal inlet) and shows a family likeness to Ranunculus pains at the chest wall, though less deep than Ran-b. Its chemistry (protoanemonin) gives a neat rationale for the vesicating, acrid picture [Hughes], [Clarke]. Differentiate it from Rhus-t. by thermal polarity (Rhus loves hot bathing), from Graph. by the watery (not honey) ooze and rapid ulceration, from Croton-t. by smaller vesicles and less profuse streaming, and from Canth. by the absence of central urinary tenesmus. [Farrington], [Boericke], [Boger], [Clarke]. [Clinical]

Fever

No characteristic fever beyond surface heat of the excoriated sites and a sense of general chilliness in damp conditions; on entering a dry room the subjective heat abates. [Clarke]. [Clinical]

Chill Heat Sweat

Chilly in damp air; heat and burning are local and cutaneous; perspiring under clothes irritates the eruption and renews smarting; drying the skin gives relief, again echoing the “cool then keep dry” strategy. [Clarke], [Boericke]. [Clinical]

Head

Occipital heaviness and forehead pressive ache attend humid weather, with a faint sickly odour from the moist eruptions behind the ears in children [Clarke]. The scalp itself may sprout small, watery vesicles along hat-lines; scratching breaks them and a thin, acrid fluid excoriates the margins, reproducing the surface chemistry ascribed to protoanemonin [Hughes]. Head pain is less a virtue of the remedy than the cutaneous field around it; complaints fade in dry air or with a light cap and worsen after damp exposure or washing the hair late at night, tallying with the damp cold < modality. [Clinical]

Eyes

Smarting of the canthi with excoriating tears; lids sore at the edges, especially when facial vesicles are active [Allen]. The child rubs eyes and cheeks and then cries because the rubbed parts burn; cool bathing gives momentary ease but frequent wetting may prolong the cycle, explaining the clinical need for brief cool then keep dry, a pattern that recurs throughout [Clarke]. Photophobia is slight; the ocular discomfort is cutaneous rather than deep. [Clinical]

Ears

A strong seat of action. Behind the ears appear watery blisters that soon weep and excoriated furrows form; the discharge is thin and acrid, making the surrounding skin red and sore [Hering], [Clarke]. Children rub and chafe the part under hats or collars; heat and wool chafe worsen, while dry air and a soft barrier dressing ease the torment—formally echoing better dry, cool shielding in Modalities. The eruptions readily ulcerate if poulticed or scratched, differentiating Ran-scel. from Graphites, where thick honey crusts and fissures predominate rather than watery blistering. [Clinical]

Nose

Rawness about alae with small vesicles; thin, smarting coryza when the face is weeping; wiping burns; the nostril wings may fissure. Cold damp air will rekindle the soreness and set the patient sneezing, linking upper air passages to the damp < theme [Clarke]. [Clinical]

Face

Characteristic perioral and chin vesicles that burst and smart, with salivation or dribbling that excoriates the angles; lips are sore, bright red, and crack on eating salty or hot food [Hahnemann], [Allen]. The chin may be speckled with minute watery heads that ooze and crust thinly; scratching converts itch to burning and starts a creeping rawness, whereas a cool dab followed by dry shielding gives the best relief—explicitly cross-linking to Modalities. Distinguish from Rhus-t., where vesicles are more intensely itchy and are often better hot water; in Croton-t. the oozing is profuse and follows the course of hair; Ran-scel. keeps to small watery blisters with a corrosive edge and damp-cold aetiology [Clarke], [Farrington]. [Clinical]

Mouth

Vesicles on tongue and buccal surfaces give burning aphthae, with salivation and a desire for cold water which soothes while swallowing [Allen], [Hahnemann]. The mucosa smart after acids or hot soups; voice is husky if the fauces are raw. The mouth mirrors the skin: watery blisters → acrid moisture → excoriation, and benefits from cool bland intake and avoidance of spice—showing the same chemistry as the external eruptions. [Clinical]

Teeth

Teeth may ache from cold air on the tender oral sores; edges feel elongated; gums bleed if abraded by salt or vinegar, and the soreness burns afterward. Dental pain is reflex and accompanies the stomatitic state, clearing as the aphthae dry under dry, cool regimen [Allen]. [Clinical]

Throat

Fauces raw, burning, and smarting; swallowing roughens the surface; small vesicular points on the soft palate are reported in provers [Allen], [Hering]. Cold damp to the neck or speaking in fog brings hoarseness and tickle-cough, while sipping cool water briefly relieves; lingering wet scarves aggravate—these cross-links exactly match the Respiration subsection. [Clinical]

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A marsh-dwelling buttercup of the Ranunculaceae with thin, hollow, acrid stems and bright yellow flowers. Like other Ranunculus species it abounds in ranunculin, which enzymatically yields the blistering lactone protoanemonin when the plant is crushed; this explains its vesicating, excoriating, and ulcerating effects on skin and mucosae and the intense burning–stinging pains so often recorded [Hughes], [Clarke]. The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh flowering plant, gathered before the acridity is lost on drying; local application of the juice is historically known to raise blisters, and internal overdosing has produced gastro-enteric irritation with salivation and diarrhoea [Hughes], [Allen]. [Toxicology]

Folk medicine employed the bruised plant as a counter-irritant or to “draw” (vesicate) obstinate structures and to cauterise warts, though such use readily caused ulceration and was abandoned by cautious physicians [Clarke], [Hughes]. Not used in modern pharmacology.

Symptoms come from Hahnemann’s provings and toxicologic observations augmented by Hering and Allen; clinical confirmations emphasise acrid, watery vesicles and excoriations, eczema behind ears and about mouth, paronychia/ulcerating warts at fingertips, raw burning in mouth–throat–larynx with hoarseness, and diarrhoea/tenesmus from intestinal irritation [Hahnemann], [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke]. [Proving] [Clinical] [Toxicology]

Skin / integument: Chief sphere—watery vesicles, papulo-vesicular eczema with acrid serum that excoriates; rapid ulceration if scratched or poulticed. Classic seats: behind ears, about lips and chin, fingertips. See Skin, Face, Extremities. [Hering], [Clarke]
Mouth / lips / oral mucosa: Burning aphthous spots, salivation, fissuring at angles; vesicles that burst and smart. See Mouth, Face. [Hahnemann], [Allen]
Throat / larynx: Raw, burning fauces; hoarseness and tickle from laryngeal excoriation; cough follows talking or cold damp air. See Throat, Respiration. [Clarke], [Boericke]
Gastro-intestinal mucosa: Gastric burning, nausea, and acrid diarrhoea with tenesmus in toxicology; stools excoriate. See Stomach, Rectum. [Hughes], [Allen]
Peri-ungual tissues / nails: Paronychia, painful ulcerating hang-nails, and soft, flat warts around nails; touch intolerable. See Extremities, Skin. [Hering], [Clarke]
Eyes / lids: Excoriating lachrymation; lids raw at margins when face eruption is active. See Eyes. [Allen], [Clarke]
Respiratory wall / chest edges: Stitching, costal pains and pleurodynia appear in the Ranunculus group; with Ran-scel. they accompany superficial vesication rather than deep intercostal neuralgia (Ran-b.). See Chest, Back. [Farrington], [Boger]
Weather / environment reactivity: Marked aggravation from damp cold, marshy air, and wetting, with soreness and blistering from friction. See Generalities, Skin. [Clarke], [Boericke]

Cool or cold applications on burning vesicles (smarting abates) [Clarke].
Dry warmth and a dry room when the complaint is from damp exposure [Hering].
Gentle uncovering of excoriated parts; avoiding woollens and friction [Clinical].
Rest and quiet, avoiding rub or pressure on paronychia or costal stitches [Boger].
Bland ointment barrier (simple oil/vaseline) to shield acrid discharge (adjunctive) [Clarke].
Sipping cool water for burning in mouth and throat [Allen].
After stool when diarrhoeal tenesmus has emptied (burning lessens) [Hughes].
Fair weather / dry air, change to upper, non-marshy dwellings [Clarke].

Damp cold, rainy weather, fog, marshy or riverside air [Clarke], [Boericke].
Touch, rubbing, pressure, and tight clothing—vesicles break, ulcers spread [Hering].
Washing and soaking of hands (laundry work, fishermen) → paronychia [Clarke].
Changes of temperature, chill after warmth; evening exposure [Hughes].
Perspiring then chilling; under wet coats, boots; long wetting of feet [Boericke].
Speaking, singing, or cold air to larynx—hoarseness/cough rekindled [Clarke].
Acid, salty, or very hot foods on oral vesicles (smarting) [Allen].
Scratching—itch turns to burning; excoriation rapidly ulcerates [Hering].
Friction at elastic lines (neck, wrists) and behind ears in children [Clarke].
Night for burning and tingling of eruptions; dawn for stool urging [Allen].
Sea-mist / river fog and damp cellars (relapse trigger) [Clarke].
Old scars and callosities (irritated, redden, may vesicate) [Boger].

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Watery vesicles with acrid discharge / excoriation

Rhus-t. — Intensely itchy vesicles > hot water; Ran-scel. burns after scratching, worse damp, seeks dry air [Farrington], [Boericke].
Croton-t. — Vesiculo-pustular eruption with copious, yellowish oozing along hair; Ran-scel. has small watery blisters and corrosive edge [Clarke].
Graph. — Thick honey crusts, fissures, behind-ear eruptions but less watery and less acrid than Ran-scel. [Clarke].
Euphorb. — Violent burning and deep ulcerations; Ran-scel. more surface and marsh-damp aetiology [Farrington].
Canth. — Great vesication with urinary tenesmus; Ran-scel. centres on skin/mucosa without urinary keynote [Allen].

Peri-ungual / paronychia / warts

Hepar-s. — Suppurative, throbbing paronychia > warmth; Ran-scel. watery vesication → ulcer worse wetting [Hering].
Ant-c. — Soft warts, crusty impetigo; Ran-scel. has acrid weeping and damp trigger [Clarke].
Thuja — Multiple sycotic warts, pedunculated; Ran-scel. softer, flat peri-ungual warts with soreness [Boericke].

Mouth / lip excoriation

Merc. — Profuse saliva, offensive mouth with ulceration < night; Ran-scel. saliva excoriates but general Merc. cachexia is absent [Allen].
Nat-m. — Angular stomatitis with dryness; Ran-scel. has watery vesicles and burning [Clarke].

Hoarseness / raw larynx from damp air

Dulc. — Catarrh from damp cold; more mucous flow, less acrid surface burning than Ran-scel. [Farrington].
Rumex — Tickle-cough < cold air to larynx; Ran-scel. adds vesicating skin and mouth picture [Boger].

Chest wall stitches / pleurodynia

Ran-b. — Deeper intercostal neuralgia, worse motion/changes of weather, often “sailor’s pleurodynia” [Farrington]; Ran-scel. has shallower costal soreness with cutaneous eruptions.

Complementary: Dulc. (damp-cold catarrh) when mucous surfaces predominate and Ran-scel. treats the acrid skin edges [Farrington].
Complementary: Graph.—after Ran-scel. dries the watery excoriation, Graph. closes residual cracks behind ears [Clarke].
Follows well: Rhus-t. in vesicular states that relapse in foggy weather but dislike hot bathing [Boericke].
Follows well: Hepar-s. where paronychia has passed the threatening-suppurative phase and watery excoriation remains [Hering].
Precedes well: Sulph. constitutionally in chronic damp-dwelling families with recurring weeping eczema [Kent].
Related / compare: Euphorb., Canth., Croton-t., Ant-c., Thuja, Dulc., Ran-b. for the fields above [Clarke], [Farrington].
Antidotes (local): Cool applications; avoid poultices which hasten ulceration—classical practical caution [Clarke].

Ranunculus sceleratus is the marsh buttercup made clinical: a remedy for those who live in dampness—river workers, laundresses, anglers, children with sweaty heads—and whose skin responds with small, watery blisters that burn after scratching and quickly excoriate. Its chemistry (protoanemonin) maps straight to the bedside: crush the plant and you get vesication; let the eruption be rubbed or poulticed and you get ulceration [Hughes], [Clarke]. The distribution tells the tale—behind ears, about lips and chin (with saliva that excoriates), fingertips and nail-folds (wet work → paronychia), and along elastic/friction lines. The modalities are cardinal: worse damp cold, fog, wet clothes, washing/soaking, friction, and scratching; better brief cooling and then keeping absolutely dry, with loose, non-woollen coverings. In the upper air passages the same edge appears: raw, burning fauces and larynx, hoarseness in fog, cough on speaking; a few cool sips soothe, but dry rooms ultimately cure. Compared to its cousin Ranunculus bulbosus, which gives deep intercostal neuralgia and shingles-like pains, Ran-scel. dwells at the surface, the mucosa–skin margin, with acrid moisture and rapid excoriation. Set it against Rhus-t. (itchy vesicles > hot water), Graphites (thick, honey crusts rather than watery blisters), Croton tiglium (profuse streaming along hair), and Cantharis (blister + urinary tenesmus). Once you hear “it weeps water that burns,” “damp makes it worse,” “washing and wet hands bring it on,” and observe that cooling gives a minute’s ease but dryness heals, you have Ranunculus sceleratus in your grasp. [Hering], [Clarke], [Farrington], [Boericke], [Allen]

Behind-ear eczema in damp-dwelling children—watery weeping that excoriates, worse washing, better dry air: Ran-scel. 6x–30C once or twice daily for a few days; avoid poultices; keep dry with simple barrier salve [Clarke], [Hering].
Paronychia / hang-nails from wet work—tense, vesicating margins that ulcerate on soaking: Ran-scel. 6x t.i.d. for several days, then space; keep hands dry, cotton gloves at night [Hering], [Clarke].
Perioral vesicles with salivation that excoriates—salt/hot foods smart; cool sips soothe: Ran-scel. 30C at onset; avoid acids; dry, bland regimen [Allen].
Hoarseness and laryngeal rawness from fog with superficial chest wall stitches: Ran-scel. 30C prn; move to dry room, silence for a few hours [Clarke], [Boericke].

Mind

MIND — IRRITABILITY — itching/eruptions — during. — Cutaneous torment drives peevishness. [Hering]
MIND — AVERSION — being wet; to damp surroundings. — Seeks dry rooms. [Clarke]
MIND — RESTLESSNESS — scratching — after — burning; from. — Itch turns to burn. [Clarke]

Head / Face / Eyes / Ears

FACE — ERUPTIONS — vesicles — watery — lips; around mouth — excoriating discharge. — Saliva burns angles. [Allen], [Clarke]
EARS — ERUPTIONS — behind ears — vesicular — acrid — ulcerate. — Classic seat and behaviour. [Hering], [Clarke]
EYES — LIDS — EXCORIATION — lachrymation — acrid; from. — Edge-soreness with weeping. [Allen]
SCALP — ERUPTIONS — vesicular — scratching — aggravates — burning — with. — Water-blisters along hat-line. [Clarke]

Mouth / Throat

MOUTH — APHTHAE — burning — cold drinks — ameliorate. — Vesicles smart; cool sips soothe. [Allen]
THROAT — RAWNESS — burning — damp air — aggravates. — Fog hoarsens and stings. [Clarke]
LARYNX — HOARSENESS — fog — damp cold — aggravates. — Weather key. [Clarke]

Stomach / Rectum

STOMACH — BURNING — epigastrium — acrid irritant; from. — Continuity of mucosal irritation. [Hughes]
STOOL — WATERY — excoriating — anus — burning after. — Thin acrid stool. [Allen]
ANUS — EXCORIATION — oozing — acrid; from. — Perianal rawness. [Clarke]

Chest / Back / Respiration

CHEST — PAIN — stitches — costal cartilages — superficial. — Pleurodynia of the surface. [Boger], [Farrington]
COUGH — TALKING — aggravates — larynx; from rawness. — Tickle from sore inlet. [Clarke]
RESPIRATION — COLD, damp air — aggravates. — Fog-stirred hoarseness. [Clarke]

Extremities

NAILS — PARONYCHIA — vesication — ulceration — tendency to. — Wet work hands. [Hering]
WARTS — SOFT — flat — peri-ungual. — Sycotic edge round nails. [Clarke]
HANDS — ERUPTIONS — vesicular — washing — after — aggravates. — Laundress pattern. [Clarke]

Skin / Generalities

SKIN — VESICLES — watery — burning — scratching — aggravates — excoriation — with. — Essence of remedy. [Hering], [Clarke]
SKIN — ULCERS — superficial — acrid discharge — from vesicles. — Rapid breakdown. [Clarke]
GENERALITIES — WEATHER — damp — cold — aggravates. — Marsh/fog <. [Boericke]
GENERALITIES — BATHING — after — aggravates — washing — hands. — Soaking keeps it raw. [Clarke]
GENERALITIES — AIR — dry — ameliorates. — Dry rooms help. [Clarke]

Hahnemann — Materia Medica Pura (1821): proving fragments and mucosal/skin notes (vesicles, burning, salivation).
Hering — Guiding Symptoms (1879): clinical confirmations—behind-ear eczema, paronychia, acrid weeping; modalities.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): toxicology (protoanemonin effects), mucosal and bowel excoriation, stomatitis.
Hughes — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1870s): chemistry (ranunculin → protoanemonin), vesication/ulceration rationale.
Clarke — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): substance background; key clinical uses (damp <, acrid vesicles, peri-oral/auricular sites).
Boericke — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1901): modalities (damp/washed hands <), hoarseness in fog; comparisons (Rhus, Graph., Croton).
Boger — Synoptic Key (1915): regional emphasis—skin edges, chest wall stitches; modality grid.
Farrington — Clinical Materia Medica (late 19th c.): Ranunculus group comparisons (bulbosus vs. sceleratus; pleurodynia vs surface).
Nash — Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1907): comparisons in vesicular and catarrhal states (contextual).
Dewey — Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1901): eczema/impetigo groupings; management notes.
Tyler — Homoeopathic Drug Pictures (1942): domestic indications—children’s behind-ear acridity; handling tips.

Disclaimer: The content on this page is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional before starting any treatment.

Ranunculus sceleratus

Mind

Sleep

Dreams

Generalities

Fever

Chill Heat Sweat

Head

Eyes

Ears

Nose

Face

Mouth

Teeth

Throat

Chest

Heart

Respiration

Stomach

Abdomen

Rectum

Urinary

Food

Male

Female

Back

Extremities

Skin

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Mind

Sleep

Dreams

Generalities

Fever

Chill Heat Sweat

Head

Eyes

Ears

Nose

Face

Mouth

Teeth

Throat

Chest

Heart

Respiration

Stomach

Abdomen

Rectum

Urinary

Food

Male

Female

Back

Extremities

Skin

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