ON PLANTS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS. 
635 
Of the anemone we have four species, two of which are 
undoubtedly native, and two have in all probability been 
introduced ; they are as follows : 
a. AVild 
A. nemorosa —white wood anemone. 
,, pulsatilla —pasque flower. 
b Doubtful Natives. 
,, Apennina —blue mountain anemone. 
„ ranunculoides —yellow anemone. 
AVe shall describe the first two. The white wood ane¬ 
mone is known as one of our earliest flowers; its bright 
silvery-white petals, tipped with pink, occasionally nearly 
all purple, make quite a show in the woods, and from its 
innocent looking form it would little be suspected that it 
was in reality a highly poisonous plant, so much so that 
the eating of only a small portion of its foliage is enough 
to blister the mouth. This acridity, which belongs more 
or less to all the species, is said to be due to an active 
principle, which has been separated and named by the 
chemists Anemonine. This is best made from the root, but 
it is strongest in the next species. 
A. pulsatilla —Pasque or Easter flower, from the time of 
its appearance. This plant, as it grows on the Cotteswolds, 
where we have often met with it and been charmed with its 
bright blue flowers, is a most powerful poison. The bruised 
leaves will soon blister the skin. Sowerby tells us that 
“ a case is mentioned in which a man, suffering from some 
disorder in the leg, applied the pounded leaves to the part, 
but they produced violent inflammation in the calf of the 
limb, and eventually gangrene.”* 
The roots of the A. pulsatilla would appear to possess 
most active principles, and doubtless this part of the plant 
yields Anemonine in greatest quantity. 
Pulsatilla is a favourite remedy with the homoeopaths, 
but we are not acquainted with its preparation; doubtless, 
however, though it is so active as that the very powder of 
its root causes great irritation to the operator who grinds it, 
yet we have no doubt its globules are as innocent as sugar 
plums. 
The hellebore is represented by two quasi native species, 
viz.— 
Helleborus viridis —the green. 
,, foetidus —stinking, 
and one foreign form, viz.— 
H. niger —black hellebore. 
# * Useful Plants of Great Britain/ p. 9. 
