Variations in Anemone nemorosa. 
BY 
E. J. SALISBURY, D.Sc., F.L.S. 
With three Figures in the Text. 
F OR several years past the writer has been engaged in the study 
of Hertfordshire woodlands in which the Wood Anemone is a 
conspicuous and abundant member of the ground flora. An exceptional 
opportunity has therefore been afforded of studying the variation to which 
this species is subject, two striking forms having been encountered. 
The type form of the species shows great variation in the degree 
of hairiness and width of the involucral segments, a statement that is also 
true of the foliage of the non-flowering shoots. As has been shown by Yule 
(‘Variation in the Number of Sepals of Anemone nemorosa Biometrika, 
1902) the number of perianth-segments is by no means constant, ranging 
from five to ten. In general, however, the most prevalent condition is 
a perianth of six members in two alternating whorls. Two extreme 
shapes of perianth-segments can be recognized, both of which agree in the 
fact that they taper towards the apex and attain their maximum width 
below the middle. In the one form the perianth-members are narrow, more 
or less lanceolate, and taper very pronouncedly both towards the base and 
apex, so that the adjacent members, except at the base, scarcely overlap. 
This flower-type is usually found associated with narrow-leaf and involucral 
segments. At the other extreme the perianth-segments are broader, ovate 
in form, and with a rounded base. The flower of this latter type is, as 
a whole, consequently much more cup-like in appearance, due to the 
greater overlap of adjacent perianth-members. With this type is usually 
associated an involucre in which the segments are much broader. 
In both types the crenulations of the perianth-margin may be obscure 
or very pronounced. The indentation of the margin may indeed be 
regarded as an undeveloped form of lobing, and such a view is in harmony 
with the occasional record of specimens in which the perianth-segments 
assume a definitely laciniate form (cf. Pryor’s ‘ Flora of Hertfordshire 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXX. No. CXX. October, 1916.] 
