the American Botanist 



VOL. XXIV. FEBRUARY, 1918 No. 1 



ZJhe snowbird twittered on the beechen bough, 

 Jxnd ' neath the hemloch, whose thick branches bent 

 beneath its bright coid burden, and kept dry 

 J*t circle on the earth, of withered leaves, 



(Jhe partridge found a shelter. 



— Bryant. 



PASQUE FLOWERS 



By Mrs. Blanche H. Soth. 



"V\ 7HILE flower lovers of the East are scouring the woods 

 v " for the first hepaticas, devotees of nature in the 

 Mountain States are seeking" "anemones". They bloom even 

 earlier than the hepaticas, but like them, are found only on the 

 south-east slopes and they have the same habit of blooming 

 before the leaves expand. Botanists claim that pasque flower 

 is the proper name for the plants and that they should be classed 

 as a separate genus from the true anemones because the styles 

 are persistent and become greatly elongated and feathery in 

 fruit. These beautiful plumose seed heads have caused the 

 plant to be dubbed ground clematis in some parts of the 

 country. 



The name Pulsatilla hirsutissima (Pursh) seems to be 

 favored by most authorities, but it is synonymous with 

 Anemone patens, A. NuttalUana and Pulsatilla patens. Pul- 

 satilla and Anemone have the same significance — "shaken by 

 the wind" — hence the name windflower because it blooms at 



