n RANUNCULACE^ 5 1 



some of the pollen is deposited on the sepals. After 

 another two days the stalk is ten or even twenty times 

 as long as it was at first, and the flower hangs over by 

 day as well as by night. The sepals have more than 

 doubled in length, and have become convex instead of 

 concave. If not already fertilised, the stigmas are 

 almost sure to receive pollen from the sepals when the 

 flower closes at night. 



The achenes have feathery awns, and the peduncles 

 lengthen considerably after flowering, perhaps in order 

 to increase the chances of dispersion of the seeds. 

 The plant grows in high pastures throughout most of 

 Europe, but is rare in England (occurring in certain 

 counties only, on calcareous soils), and does not occur 

 in Scotland, Ireland, or Wales. The root-stock is stout, 

 woody, and penetrates deeply into the ground, thus 

 enabling the plant to maintain itself better in the dry 

 situations where it grows. 



A. nemorosa (Wood Anemone) prefers woods and 

 copses. It is one of the few plants which are able to 

 grow under beech trees, probably because it flowers 

 early, and its period of active vegetation is over before 

 the beech leaves are out. It thus escapes the com- 

 petition of other plants, and is also protected against 

 the wind. The Wood Anemone has a creeping rhizome, 

 which throws up the leaves and flowers. The flower- 

 stalk bears no true leaves, but an involucre of three 

 bracts, which in this species resemble the leaves. The 

 sepals are white, often tinged with pink, or, very rarely, 

 blue. The achenes are downy, without awns. The 

 flowers (March to May), which are honeyless, are visited 

 by pollen-collecting bees, flies, and a few beetles. When 

 they first open they are upright when it is fine, but 

 bend over in wet weather and at night, and gradually 

 become drooping. The bending movement is a not 

 infrequent method of protecting pollen or honey from 

 becoming wetted. According, however, to Van Tieghem, 

 honey is secreted by the receptacle. 



The plant prefers calcareous soils, but is spread all 



