Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Canada Anemone
Anemonastrum canadense
Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae)

This is one of a number plants (Delphiniums, Geraniums, Monkshood) with very similarly cut, leaves. They are attractive leaves but because of their similar shape, we wildflower lovers have our work cut out for us if we wish to identify the exact species we are looking at. Compare this Eastern Slope species of Anemone with Anemone multifida which is more wide-spread through the mountains of Colorado. Colorado flora authority William Weber points out that the word "Anemone" is a "corruption of 'Na'man', [the] Semitic name for Adonis, from whose blood the crimson-flowered Anemone of the Middle East was said to have sprung." Weber goes on to say that the flower name, "Anemone," "probably has nothing to do with [the] Greek [word], "anemos," [which means] wind."


©2020 Christopher L. Christie

Description

Plants from spreading rootstock, forming clumps, stems 8-24" tall with hairs. Stems branching above into clusters of flowers on long stems. to 5" wide, 3-5 divisions, the divisions cut again and , with hairs on the underside. Leaves around the base of the flower stem (the ) similarly shaped but . white. hairy.

Field Marks

Brilliant white flowers several inches above leaves surrounding the .

© Al Schneider

A peduncle is a common stalk of a cluster of flowers.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

palmate -- Consisting of leaflets or lobes radiating from the base of the leaf.

Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

sessile -- attached without a stalk. For example, a leaf that clasps the stalk. A petiolate leaf has a stalk.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

appressed -- pressed close or flat against another surface as in hairs appressed against a stem.