CROWFOOT TRIBE 11 



and our own species is no exception, for it grows on high mountainous 



places, and puts forth its flowers when winds are wildest. As Clare has said, 



these flowers, 



'' Dyed in winter's snow and rime, 

 Constant to their early time, 

 White the leaf-strewn gronnd again, 

 And make each wood a garden glen." 



The Anemone bears the name of W^ind-flower in other lands than ours. It is 

 VHerhe au rent of the French, but the form of its petals gives it the name 

 in Italy of Fioi'c stella. Charlotte Smith has well described its starry appear- 

 ance : — 



" He there 

 Gathers the copse's ]n'ide, Anemones, 

 Witli rays like golden studs on ivory laid, 

 ]\Iost delicate ! but touch'd with purple clouds, 

 Fit crown for April's fair but changeful brow." 



Sometimes the colour of the Wood Anemone is of a most delicate crimson ; 

 and it was, perhaps, because of this faint flush on its white petals that the 

 Egyptians made it the emblem of sickness. It is occasionally found tinted 

 with a pale sky-blue colour. Usually, wherever we find this flower, it grows 

 in great abundance ; but there are some districts in which it is rare. Its 

 leaves are of a very dark green, the stem about six inches high, and the 

 fleshy creeping rootstocks produce a strong network of fibres, which some- 

 times runs over a great extent of ground far beneath the surface. The plant 

 is most luxuriant on moist soils ; it blossoms till about the end of May, and 

 is perennial. It grows very far north, and is very common in the woods of 

 North America. Mr. Lyell saw it in the woods of Virginia, growing beside 

 our beautiful purple wood cranesbill {Geranium sylvaticwn) and amidst multi- 

 tudes of scentless violets. 



2. Pasque Flower {A. pulsafilla). — Leaves as well as the involucre 

 doubly pinnatifid ; flower slightly drooping ; sepals six ; carpels with feathery 

 tails. This species grows on stouter stalks than the wood anemone, which 

 ara usually from four to ten inches high. Its dark rich purple stars, when 

 half unfolded, glitter in the sunshine like satin, on account of the soft silky 

 hairs with Avhich the flower is covered externally, and which render the young 

 buds extremel}^ pretty. They open in April or May, and the name of the 

 plant has a reference to the Paschal or Easter season. Several flowers, both 

 in France and England, are called Easter flowers : thus Paquerette is one of 

 the French names of the daisy, and our gardeners have an Easter hyacinth ; 

 but this Anemone has a better claim to its name than the other plants, because 

 of the uses to which it was formerly applied. The petals of the flower yield 

 a bright clear green dye, and the whole of the plant gives a good rich green 

 colour. This, Avith other wild flowers, was much used in days when in 

 England the custom prevailed of staining eggs of some richly-marbled tints, 

 and presenting them as Easter gifts, under the name of Pask, Paste, or Pace 

 eggs. This practice, still so common on the Continent, is now little followed 

 in our country ; yet even in our days Paschal eggs are to be found at Easter, 

 in different parts of the kingdom, often beautifully mottled with dyes 

 obtained from logwood, or from the flowers of our fields. Our anemone is 



