38 WILD FLOWER FAMILIES 
century: ‘* The whole plant is acriminous to the 
taste.” Possibly this is the reason why the root- 
stocks used to be recommended for the cure of 
rheumatism. 
We owe to the delicate fancy of the Greeks the 
name “ Anemone”’—the wind flower. It is in- 
WOOD ANEMONES 
teresting to know that a species very similar to 
our own is found over a large part of Europe, 
where, as with us, the flowers “ are an ornament 
to many a woodland scene and mountain pasture 
in April and May.” 
When the blossoms first open, the stamens are 
curved over the pistils, but the filaments soon 
