Crowfoot ifamil^. 



Rue Anemone. Anemonella ihalictroides. 



Found in woods and on shady banks, in May. 



The slender, erect stalk, 5 or 6 inches in height, is fine and smooth ; 

 in color, a light reddish-tinged green. 



The leaf is compound, each part being set on a slender, rather long 

 stem ; the leaflets are small, broad, heart-shaped at the base, and 2- or 

 3-lobed near the tip; the texture is exceedingly fine, and smooth to 

 the touch ; the color is a dark grayish-green. The leaves form a whorl 

 about the summit of the stalk, from which the flower-stems rise. 



The flower is formed of 5 to 8 petal-like calyx-parts, which are 

 oval, slightly convex, of a fine and delicate texture ; in color, white, 

 tinged with pale pink. The stamens are many, small, and orange 

 yellow; the several pistils gathered in the center are green. The 

 flowers are poised on slender stems, in groups, generally of 3, 

 springing from the leaf-whorl. 



The flowers and leaves rise from the earth together, the undevel- 

 oped flower, with bowed head, enfolded by the leaflets ; as the plant 

 pushes upward the blossoms grow, the central one developing first, the 

 side ones later. At first the stamens and pistils are gathered together 

 in a close green ball in the middle, — when the central flower has 

 shaken out its yellow-tipped stamens fully, the side flowers begin to 

 grow ; thus the plant stays in bloom a long time — nearly two weeks. 



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