WOOD ANEMONE iWind Flower 

 Anemone quinquefolia L. 



April 



Northern woods 



Siiuill. iiit iiiiatc. ami iicrfcci it -taiids at the foot of 

 ail old tree, a wood anoiiiont' in a sandy forest of 



lltTc is the compact, exquisite 



iiorthcni Jlliiioi 



jiiiii:^ llowcr. efficient in the lew leaves it produces, 



clianii of a >ina 



c-omplete and hricf in it- lldwrriiii:- 



It is a low plant, seldom over six inches hifrh and usually less. It 



top of which is a whorl of three compound, 

 lulled and toothed, and stand out in a tri- 

 lower risini;- in the middle. The flower is 

 lalc \('llow cluster of stamens to set off the 



has thill, wiry stems at the 

 grey-o'reen leaves wliiili an 

 anjiular pattern helow the 

 five-petaled witli a delicate 

 center. 



Wood anemones are not eoiiimoii in llliiioi.-. They heloiig further 

 north and east. Oiii- (('iiiinoii anemones are the fal.se rue anemone, the 

 rue, the prairie, the tall, and the thimhle anemones. The little wood 

 anemone, theridore. is an uncommon creature to lind. It is most fre- 

 quently found in sandy woods and in dune forests near I^ike Michigan. 



This is the llower ai»oiit which so many ])oets have written. These 

 are the blossoms of .\nemos. the Wind, who sends them as his heralds 

 when the blasts of winter have scarcely given way to the wanner winds 

 of spring. Wind-llowers. they are often calKnl. because their lightly set 

 flowers and leaves nod and dance in any bn^'ze. Long ago in Kome 

 the anemone was ])icked with an iiu antatiiin intended to giuird the picker 

 from fever. In Asin. where the anemone also grows, it is planted on 

 graves and is called the death llower. But this is spring — this is Illinois — 

 and our anemones, free from sui)erstition, are creatures of wind and jiure 

 delii^ht. 



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