Anemone narcissiflora
Encyclopedia
Anemone narcissiflora is a herbaceous
Herbaceous
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 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...

and the buttercup family
Ranunculaceae
Ranunculaceae are a family of about 1700 species of flowering plants in about 60 genera, distributed worldwide....

.

Description

Plants grow 7 to 60 cm tall, from a caudex
Caudex
A caudex is a form of stem morphology appearing as a thickened, short, perennial stem that is either underground or near ground level . It may be swollen for the purpose of water storage, especially in xerophytes...

 (woody-like perennial base), flowering spring to mid summer but often found flowering till late summer. They have 3-10 basal leaves that are ternate
Ternate
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....

 (arranged with three leaflets), rounded to rounded triangular in shape with 40 to 200 mm long petioles.

The flowers are produced in inflorescences with 2 to 8 flowers, in umbel
Umbel
An umbel is an inflorescence which consists of a number of short flower stalks which are equal in length and spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs....

s, but often also produced singularly. The inflorescence have 3 leaf-like bracts similar in appearance to the basal leaves but simple and greatly reduced in size, pinnatifid in shape. Flowers lack petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

s, the sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...

s number 5-9 per flower and are white, white tinted blue or yellow in color.  The flowers have 40 to 80 stamens but can have up to 100.

After flowering, fruits are produced in rounded heads with 5-14 cm long pedicel
Pedicel (botany)
A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....

s. When the fruits, called achenes, are ripe they are ellipsoid to ovate in outline, flat in shape and 5 to 9 mm long and 4-6 mm wide. The achenes are winged with no hairs and have 0.8-1.5 mm long beaks that are curved or recurved.

Distribution

Anemone narcissiflora is native to north western North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...

 where it can be found growing in high mountain alpine grasslands, in thickets, grassy meadows with moist soils, tundra, open woods, along roadsides and in pastures.

Varieties

This species is very variable and at least 12 varieties are generally recognized with even more proposed by other authorities. The name of the species has been in dispute and some have listed it as Anemone narcissifolia but Anemone narcissiflora was proposed for conservation.

Three varieties are native to North America:
  • Anemone narcissiflora L. var. villosissima DC. - Alaska 
  • Anemone narcissiflora L. var. monantha DC. - Alaska and Eastern Yukon and Northern Northwest Territories
    Northwest Territories
    The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

     in Canada
    Canada
    Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

  • Anemone narcissiflora L. var. zephyra (A. Nels.) Dutton & Keener - Colorado and Wyoming

The others are from Eurasia.

Gallery

Flower
July 27,2002
in Mount Tsubakuro
Mount Tsubakuro
is a high mountain in Azumino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It is situated in Japan's Hida Mountains in Nagano Prefecture.It was specified for Chūbu-Sangaku National Park on December 4, 1934.- Mountain hut :...

 
Leaf
August 5, 2007
in Mount Kita
Mount Kita
is the second tallest mountain in Japan, after Mount Fuji, and is known as "the Leader of the Southern Alps". It is included in the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains. It is situated in the city of Minami-Alps, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan...

Seed
August 16, 2007
in Mt. Kita
Natural garden
July 27,2002
in Mt. Tsubakuro
 
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