Plural of celandine, which are small yellow wildflowers in the buttercup family, historically used in folk medicine.
From Old French 'chélidoine,' derived from Greek 'chelidon' meaning swallow, because the plant was believed to bloom when swallows arrived and wither when they left.
Medieval herbalists thought celandine's yellow juice could cure swallows' blindness, so they literally named it after swallows—the bird that supposedly needed its help when summer arrived.
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