Anemone nemorosa

Anemone Nemorosa

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Anemone nemorosa

Anemone nemorosa is an early-spring flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
in the genus Anemone
Anemone

Anemone , is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones. They are closely related to Pasque flowers and Hepaticas ; some botanists include both of these genera within Anemone....
in the family Ranunculaceae. Common names include (European*) wood anemone
Wood Anemone

Wood anemone is a common name for two different species.In Europe: Anemone nemorosaIn North America: Anemone quinquefoliaThe Yellow wood anemone is Anemone ranunculoides....
, windflower, (European*) thimbleweed and smell fox, an allusion to the musky smell of the leaves. It is a perennial herbaceous

Herbaceous

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Encyclopedia

Anemone nemorosa is an early-spring flowering plant

Flowering plant

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaf and stem that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. A herbaceous plant may be Annual plant, Biennial plant or Perennial plant....
plant, growing in early spring from 5 to 15 cm tall.

(*American wood anemone is Anemone quinquefolia
Anemone quinquefolia

Anemone quinquefolia is an early-spring flowering plant in the genus Anemone, native to North America. It is commonly called Wood Anemone, though it is not to be confused with Anemone nemorosa, a European species....
, a different species in the same genus. American thimbleweed, Rudbeckia laciniata
Rudbeckia laciniata

The Cutleaf, Cutleaf Coneflower, Goldenglow, Green-headed Coneflower, Tall Coneflower or, Thimbleweed is a large perennial plant herb, native to Eastern North America, most often found in flood plains and moist soils....
, is an entirely unrelated plant.)

Growth

The plants start blooming soon after the foliage emerges from the ground. The leaves are divided into three segments and the flowers, produced on short stems, are held above the foliage with one flower per stem. They grow from underground root-like stems called rhizomes and the foliage dies back down by mid summer (summer dormant). The rhizomes spread just below the soil surface, forming long spreading clumps that grow quickly, contributing to its rapid spread in woodland conditions, where they often carpet large areas.

The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
is 2 cm diameter, with six or seven petal

Petal

A petal is one member or part of the Corolla of a flower. The corolla is the name for all of the petals of a flower; the inner perianth whorl, term used when this is not the same in appearance as the outermost whorl and is used to attract pollinators based on its advertising coloration....
-like segments (actually tepal

Tepal

Tepals are elements of the perianth, or outer part of a flower, which include the petals or sepals. The term tepal is usually used when all segments of the perianth are of similar shape and color, or undifferentiated....
s) with many stamen

Stamen

The stamen is the male organ of a flower. Each stamen generally has a stalk called the filament , and, on top of the filament, an anther , and pollen sacs, called sporangium....
s. In the wild the flowers are usually white, but may be pinkish, lilac or blue, and often have a darker tint to the back of the 'petals'. The flowers lack both fragrance and nectar and it has been suggested by some authors that they are primarily self-pollinated

Pollination

Pollination in flowering plants and gymnosperms is the process that transfers pollen, which contain the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself....
, but it has also been demonstrated that they are pollinated by bees and other insects that visit the flowers to collect pollen (Shirreffs 1985).

Yellow wood anemone, Anemone ranunculoides
Anemone ranunculoides

Anemone ranunculoides, the yellow anemone, yellow wood anemone or buttercup anemone, is a species of herbaceous perennial plant that grows in forests across most of Continental Europe, and less frequently in the Mediterranean region....
, also known as the buttercup anemone, is a similar plant with slightly smaller flowers of rich yellow colouring.

Medicinal uses

The plant contains poisonous chemicals that are toxic to animals including humans, but it has also been used as a medicine. All parts of the plant contain protoanemonin, which can cause severe skin and gastrointestinal irritation.

Cultivation

Many cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s have been selected for garden use eg Anemone nemorosa 'Allenii' which has large blue flowers. It has been awarded an Award of Garden Merit

Award of Garden Merit

The Award of Garden Merit, or AGM, is an award made to garden plants by the United Kingdom Royal Horticultural Society after a period of assessment by the appropriate committees of the Society....
(AGM) H4 (hardy throughout the British Isles

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands....
) by the Royal Horticultural Society

Royal Horticultural Society

The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha....
, as have several of its cultivars (see below).

The RHS Plant Finder 2008–2009 lists 70 cultivars of Anemone nemorosa (AGM H4) available from nurseries in the UK. Some of those most widely available are:

'Alba Plena' - double white
'Allenii' (AGM H4) - large lavender-blue flowers, often with seven petals (Named after James Allen
James Allen (nurseryman)

James Allen was a horticulturist of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, United Kingdom, known principally for his hybridizations of snowdrops and anemones....
, nurseryman)
'Bowles' Purple' - purple flowers (Named after E.A. Bowles, plantsman and garden writer)
'Bracteata Pleniflora' - double, white flowers, with green streaks and a frilly ruff of bracts
'Robinsoniana' (AGM H4) - pale lavender-blue flowers (Named after William Robinson
William Robinson

William Robinson, or Will Robinson or Bill Robinson or other nicknames, may refer to:...
, plantsman and garden writer)
'Royal Blue' - deep blue flowers with purple backs
'Vestal' (AGM H4) - white, anemone-centred flowers
'Virescens' (AGM H4) - flowers mutated into small conical clusters of leaves.

Anemone × lipsiensis, a hybrid between A. nemorosa and A. ranunculoides, has pale yellow flowers; A. × lipsiensis 'Pallida' is the best-known result of this cross. It has been awarded the AGM H4, like both of its parents.

Gallery

Sources

Shirreffs, D.A. 1985. Anemone nemorosa L. Journal of Ecology 73: 1005-1020.
RHS Plant Finder 2008–2009, Tony Lord (editor), Dorling Kindersley (2008) ISBN 978-1-4053-3190-6