Anemonoides nemorosa (syn. Anemone nemorosa), the wood anemone, is an early-spring flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe.[1] Other common names include windflower, European thimbleweed,[2] and smell fox, an allusion to the musky smell of the leaves.[3] It is a perennialherbaceous plant growing 5–15 cm (2–6 in) tall.
Description
Anemonoides nemorosa is a rhizomatousherbaceous perennial plant less than 30 centimetres (12 in) in height. The compound basal leaves are palmate or ternate (divided into three lobes).[4]: 106 They grow from underground root-like stems called rhizomes and die back down by mid summer (summer dormant).
The plants start blooming in spring, March to May in the British Isles[5]: 28 soon after the foliage emerges from the ground. The flowers are solitary, held above the foliage on short stems, with a whorl of three palmate or palmately-lobed leaflike bracts beneath. The flowers are 2 centimetres (0.8 in) diameter, with six or seven (and on rare occasions eight to ten) tepals (petal-like segments) with many stamens. In the wild the flowers are usually white but may be pinkish, lilac or blue, and often have a darker tint on the backs of the tepals.
Similar species
The yellow wood anemone (Anemonoides ranunculoides) is slightly smaller, with yellow flowers and usually without basal leaves.[4]
Wood sorrel Oxalis acetosella, which grows in similar shaded places, can be readily distinguished by its 3-parted, clover-like leaves and smaller flowers with only white petals and 5 sepals.[5][6]
A. nemorosa is often found in shady woods.[6] The species is common in the British Isles[5] but it spreads very slowly there, by as little as six feet per century, so it is often used as an indicator for ancient woodland.[9]
Many cultivars have been selected for garden use, The RHS Plant Finder 2008–2009 lists 70 cultivars sold by nurseries in the UK. Some of the most widely available are:
'Alba Plena' - double white
'Allenii'agm[11] - large lavender-blue flowers, often with seven petals (named after James Allen, 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[12] - pale lavender-blue flowers (named after William Robinson, plantsman and garden writer)
'Royal Blue' - deep blue flowers with purple backs
Anemonoides × lipsiensis, a hybrid between A. nemorosa and A. ranunculoides,[15] has pale yellow flowers; A. × lipsiensis 'Pallida' is the best-known result of this cross. It has also been awarded the AGM.[16]
Gallery
Anemonoides nemorosa in Flemingsbergsskogens naturreservat, Sweden
^" Anemone nemorosa". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2020.