Wood Anemone. Wind-Flower
Anemone Quinquefolia, L. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family
Rootstock.—Horizontal. Stem.—Six to fourteen inches high. Leaves.—Radical leaf remote from the stem; trifid; the segments serrate. Involucral leaf not far below the flower; three foliolate. Sepals.—Petaloid; five or six; usually bluish outside. Petals.—Wanting. Stamens and Pistils.—Numerous. Akenes.—Two lines long; twelve to twenty. Syn.—Anemone nemorosa, L. Hab.—The Coast Ranges, in moist shade.
The delicate blossoms of the wood anemone might at first be confounded with those of the toothwort by the careless observer, but a moment’s reflection will quickly distinguish them. The anemone is always a solitary flower with many stamens, and its petals are of a more delicate texture. It grows upon wooded banks or cool, shaded flats among the redwoods.
There are many quaint traditions as to the origin of its name, and poets have from early times found something ideal of which to sing in these simple spring flowers.
The generic name has the accent upon the third syllable, but, when Anglicized into the common name, the accent falls back upon the second.