FHE BRITISH HERBAL. 
GENUS IX. 
W I N D F L O W E R. 
A N E M ONE. 
THE flower of the emmone is large, and confifts of an uncertain numter of petals with a great 
■ tuft of Ihort threads in the centre. There is not that fingle and particular leaf at fome dif- 
tance under the flower, which is fecn in the pulfatilla ; but the leaves naturally ftand in a regular 
order about the middle of the ftalk, three riflng together. 
Linn^us places this among thi polyaiidria folygynv-i. In his Genera Plantarum it fl;ands feparatc from 
the pulfatilla ; but in his fuccecding works he has joined them, as we have oblerved, under that 
arl;icle. 
The Eniilifli name of this genus is wiiid-flm'er ; but it is difufed, and v/e have .adopted the Latin 
word entirely. 
DIVISION I. 
I. White Wood- Anemone. 
Anemone nemsrum alba. 
BRITISH SPECIES. 
The root is thick, oblong, and creeps irregu- 
larly under the furface. While young, it is yel- 
lowilli ; when older, of a redifli brown ; whitifli 
within, furnirtied with many fibres, and of an 
auftere and very acrid tafte. 
The leaves that rife immediately from the root 
ftand on long flender footfl:alks, and are large 
and beautifully divided. The footfl:alk is pur- 
plifli, and fomewhat hairy, and the divifions of 
the leaf large and indented. 
The ftalk is flender, weak, round, and eight 
inches high. It is purplifli at the bottom, and 
green upwards. 
The leaves grow with regularity upon it. 
They are three ; they all rife from the fime place, 
and ftand on moderately long footftalks. They 
are beautifully divided, and their footifalks are 
redilh, and fomewhat hairy. The place of thefe 
is a little higher than the middle of the ftalk ; 
and from this it is again naked to the top. 
The flower ftands fingle on the top of the ftalk. 
It confifts of fi.'t oblong and large leaves, and has 
a tuft of threads with yellow heads in the centre. 
Its colour is ufually white, often redifh, or with 
more or lefs of a purplilll tinge. 
The feeds follow in a button or little clufter, 
■which is rough, each feed having a hooked 
fliort beard. 
Ic is a native of England, and common in 
woods. It flowers in April. 
J. Bauhine calls it Ranunculus ;ph-agmites albus 
fc? purpureiis vermis. C. Bauhine, Jnemone nemo, 
rofa jiere majcre. 
Its virtues are unknown ; but there is fuch an 
acrid tafte in every part of it, that it would fecm 
unfafe to try it internally. 
A fmall winged iafeft is apt to dcpofit its eggs 
on the underpart of the leaves of this fpecics ; 
and they fomewhat referable the round dots in 
which the feeds of fern are lodged. A leaf of it 
thus decorated is unluckily reprefcnted in a figure 
in the laft edition of Ray's SynopCs. The form, 
fubftance, and difpofition of thefe dots ought to 
have informed the botanift they were not feeds. 
It is a jufticc we owe the memory of Mr. Ray to 
obferve, that although this error ftands in a work 
authonled by his name, it is not to be charged 
to his account. The defcription p. 124. and fi- 
gure, tab. 3. of that work, arc both added by the 
late Dr. Dellenius, botanical profeflbr at Oxford, 
who faw the plant under the name of a fern in 
the colleiftion of Bobart. He therefore was the 
perfon firft impofed upon; The plant was given 
him, whether ignorantly or in wantonncfs, by a 
perfon whom he calls the Conjurer of Chal- 
grave. 
2. Large-leaved Wood- Anemone. 
Anemone folHs tnajorihus Jlore vioJaceo. 
The root is long, flender, irregularly fhaped, 
and fpreads under the furface ; thecolour is a deep 
brown, and the tafte more fiery and acid than 
the laft. 
The leaves ftand on footftalks two inches 
long, and referable thofe of the common ■wood- 
anemone in form, fize, and divlfion. The foot- 
ftalks are purple at the bottom, and the leaves of 
a Ihining green. 
The ftalk is five inches high, round, flender, 
purple toward the bottom, and weak. 
The leaves on the ftalk are three. They all 
grow from the fame fpot, aud have fcarcc any 
footftalk. They are large, and of a beautiful 
green. They are divided into three large parts, 
and then deeply into feveral fmajler. 
The flower ftands fingly at the top of the 
ftalk, and has no cup. Its colour is a deep vio- 
let blue i and it has a great tuft of yellow threads 
in the centre. The petals are oblong, and ob- 
tufe at the end. Their number is uncertain, from 
fix to twelve or fifteen ; in which later cafe they 
are very narrow. 
1 his is a fort of doubling of the flower, but 
it is natural to it often without culture, and alfo 
to the common white wood kind. 
The feeds ftand in a fmall rough clufter. 
It is a native of moft of the cold parts of Eu- 
rope. I have found it in Charleton foreft, and 
in one of the places mentioned in Mr. Ray's Sy- 
nopfis, in Surry. 
Mentzclius calls it Ranunculus numeroftts Jlore 
cxriiliofoiiis majoribus Jpenini monies. 
D I V I- 
