WOOD ANEMONE 9 



flower and droops its head. This drooping of the flower is a character 

 by which to recognize it. 



The Wood Anemone is more or less prostrate in habit, with ascend- 

 ing or erect scapes. The rootstock or rhizome is woody and horizontal, 

 giving rise to leaves and scapes. The leaves are few, radical, distant 

 from the scapes, ternate or quinate, 3- or 5-lobecl, stalked, the leaflets 

 narrow, lobecl and cut, or deeply divided, nearly stalkless, and the 

 involucral bracts are the same. 



The scape or flower-stalk bears no leaves but bracts, forming an 



WOOD ANEMONE (Anemone nemorosa, L.) 



involucre. The flowers are solitary, with 6 or 5-9 oblong, hairless, 

 spreading sepals, which replace the petals, and are white, rose, or 

 rarely purple. The stamens are all perfect. The achenes are downy, 

 as long as the style, keeled not awned. The styles are short and 

 straight. 



The Wood Anemone grows to a height of 3-4 in. Flowers may 

 be seen from March to May. The plant is perennial. 



As a rule there is no honey in the flower, but Van Tieghem found 

 plants containing honey. Insects, moreover, may be seen trying to 

 bite through the bottom (or top, as it is drooping and the bottom is at 

 the top) of the flower, presumably to get at sweet sap, by aid of which 

 they moisten the pollen, which is abundant, to facilitate its being carried 

 away. The anthers and stigma are ripe at the same time. The 

 flowers are erect when they first open, when it is sunny. They bend 



