WHITE AND GREENISH WILD FLOWERS 



mentally distinct. This will be better appreciated when 

 it is considered that both species blossom at about the 

 same time, and often grow side by side. The most 

 striking difference between the Wood and Rue Anemone 

 is found in the roots. The former has a thick, hori- 

 zontal root stock, while the roots of the latter are formed 

 of a small group of little bulbs, resembling tiny sweet 

 potatoes. The perfect, white flower is sometimes 

 tinted with pink. It is smaller than those of its cousin, 

 the Wind Flower, and in common with them, it soon 

 perishes after being plucked. From five to ten, usually 

 six, thin, oval, petal-like sepals form the flower, which 

 varies from one-half to one inch in diameter. It has 

 numerous short, yellow-tipped, white, hair-like stamens 

 clustered around the several light green pistils in the 

 centre. Two, or generally three, flowers are borne on 

 slender stems in a cluster surrounded with a loose 

 whorl of three-lobed, hair-stemmed leaflets, the stems 

 of which unite on the stalk with those of the flowers. 

 The centre flower opens first. The single, slender, 

 erect stem is stained with red, and grows from four to 

 nine inches high. The leaflets of the compound leaves, 

 which appear after the flowers, are grouped into threes, 

 and strongly resemble those of the Meadow Rue. 

 Their texture is smooth and fine, medium or dark 

 green in colour, or at first often tinged with red, and 

 notched into two or three lobes on the rounding end. 

 They are delicately veined and rise directly from the 

 roots. The Rue Anemone is found commonly during 

 the spring from March to June, in thin woods, through- 



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