36 POLYANDRIA— POLYGYNIA. Anemone. 



a round or oblong head. S/r/les tapering, short. Stigmas 

 simple, bluntish. Seeds numerous, pointed, tipped with 

 the permanent styles, which in some species become fea- 

 thery tails. 

 Herbs with tuberous roots. Stem none. Leaves stalked, 

 more or less divided or compound. Fl. solitary or ag- 

 gi'egate, scentless, on radical stalks, with a leafy ijivolu- 

 crum, or bractea, more or less remote from the flower. 

 Corolla blue, purplish, red, white, or yellow, very va- 

 riable. 



1 . A. Pulsatilla. Pasque-flower Anemone. 



Flower solitary, nearly upright. Involucrum in deep li- 

 near segments. Petals six, erect. Seeds with feathery 

 tails. Leaves doubly pinnate, cut, with linear lobes. 



A. Pulsatilla. Linn. Sp. PL 759. Willd. v. 2. 1 274. FL Br. 580. 



EngL Bot. V. 1 . <. 5 1 . Hook. Lond. t. 44, according to the letter- 



press. ReUi.ed. 1.208. t. 3. DeCand. Sijst. v. \. 19\. FL Dan. 



«. 153. BiilL Fr. t.49. Ehrh. PL Of. 135. 

 A.pratensis. Sibth.\69. With. 498.^ 

 A. n. 1146. HalL msLv.2.6\. 

 Pulsatilla. Matth. Falgr.v. l.568.f. Camer. Epil. 392./. Dad. 



Pempt. 433./. 1. 

 P. folio crassioie, et majore flora. Raii Syn. 260. Bauh. Pin. \77. 

 P. vulgaris. Ger. Em. 385./. Lob. Ic. 281./. 



In high open chalky pastures. 



Perennial, ^pril, May. 



Root rather woody, sweet according to Haller, though the herb 

 itself is highly acrid, and blisters the skin. Leaves doubly pin- 

 nate, the leaflets deeply pinnatifid, with very narrow, nearly 

 linear, acute, channelled, hairy segments. Stalk solitary, 4 or 

 5 inches high, round, hairy. Involucrum in many deep linear 

 segments, all united at the base. Flower of a dull violet blue, 

 externally silky. Pet. near 1^ inch long, moderately spreading, 

 but straight, not recurved as in the true A.pratensis, Herba venti 

 of Tragus, 413, whose flower moreover is but half the size of 

 this, and more drooping. The seeds, with their long, feathery, 

 purplish tails, spreading in every direction, form a round head, 

 and are finally blown away by the wind. Gerarde expressly 

 informs us that he himself was " moved to name " this the 

 Pasque-flower, or Easter-flower, because of the time of its ap- 

 pearance. There is therefore no occasion to seek an explanation 

 of this name in the reported use of the flowers, for colouring the 

 Paschal eggs of the catholicks, or the Scotch j especially as these 

 flowers are said to yield a green, not a purple dye. See Hooker, 

 as above. 



