Eranthis is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to southern Europe and east across Asia to Japan. The common name winter aconite comes from the early flowering time and the resemblance of the leaves to those of the related genus Aconitum, the true aconite. Like the notoriously toxic Aconitum (and, indeed, many other genera of the Ranunculaceae) Eranthis is poisonous, although its chemistry is different, the toxic compounds present being mainly cardiac glycosides of the bufadienolide group similar to those found in Adonis vernalis, rather than the virulent alkaloids of Aconitum.