Wood Anemone

Anemone quinquifolia

These plants are difficult to photograph! Anemones are also called windflowers, because the lightest breeze puts them in motion. Adding to the difficulty, the flowers close at night and on overcast days, making it hard again to get a good picture. So maybe it is no wonder that I only came across this wildflower once last spring (and even at that, I got a bad picture of it). This year has been different. I seem to find them everywhere I go.

The single flower of this member of the buttercup family usually has five large white sepals (no true petals) and an abundant number of stamens. The flower is about an inch in diameter. The leaves occur in a whorl of three leaflets; each leaflet is finely cut at the edge in a pretty fashion. The entire plant is about 8 inches tall.

Compare this species to the more common rue anemone, which has 3/4-inch white flowers, usually more “petals”, and a very small and delicate leaf that is shaped like a duck’s foot.

Bloom time for wood anemone is April to June. These plants were all photographed in moist woodland settings in May of 2013.