76 :ffiotan^ 



the poets have loved the anemones. Bryant tells 

 how " gay circles of them danced on their stalks," 

 and Whittier sings of how " daint}'' wind flowers 

 sway." White is the usual dress of the anemones, 

 but we have seen them pale purple, pink, or blue. 

 One oddity about them is the variable number of 

 their petals ; one may count them all the way from 

 four to fifteen : probably five is the normal, and 

 when more appear some of the stamens have per- 

 haps chosen to abandon their pollen-l)earing and ex- 

 pand to the more showy joetal form. These j^etals 

 also are sometimes dissimilar in shape, in a five- 

 parted blossom each segment is nearly oval ; where 

 the petals are numerous several are queer, crooked, 

 crimpled, triangular, or cone-shaped affairs. The 

 foliage of the anemone is as delicate and pretty as 

 the flowers, usually three leaves, each made of three 

 deeply-serrated leaflets, from among w^hich the 

 simple stem lifts the frail, solitary blossom. This 

 wood anemone has a cousin, the rue anemone, so 

 called because its leaves resem])le those of the rue- 

 plant. This rue anemone has smaller blossoms than 

 the wood anemone, several springing on short stems 

 from the same axil as the leaf stalks. The rue anem- 

 one likes a deeper shade than its cousin, and loves 

 to hide at the roots of old trees. 



We have spoken of the " corolla " and " petals " of 



