Snowdrop Anemone

Rhizome branched, oblique, short, 10--15 mm in diam. Leaves 3--9; petiole 5--20 cm, pubescent, base sheathing; leaf blade 3-sect, cordate-pentagonal, 2--5 × 3--8 cm, abaxially sparsely puberulent along veins, adaxially subglabrous, base cordate; segments sessile; central segment 3-lobed, rhombic or obovate-rhombic, margin lobulate and sparsely dentate; lateral segments unequally 2-parted, obliquely flabellate. Scape 10--20 cm, puberulent or subglabrous; cyme 1(or 2)-flowered. Involucral bracts 2 or 3; petiole 3--25 mm; bract blade similar to that of leaves but smaller, 2--3 cm, 3-sect, base cordate, apex truncate or rounded; segments sessile, narrowly obovate, puberulent. Pedicel 5--15(--25) cm, puberulent. Sepals 5(or 6), white, obovate or elliptic, 15--20 × 10--15 mm, abaxially densely sericeous, basal veins 5--9, vein anastomoses more than 10. Stamens ca. 4 mm; filament filiform; anther cylindric, ca. 1 mm, apex rounded. Pistils 180 or more; ovary densely puberulent; stigma sessile, globose. Achene shortly stipitate; body fusiform, flat, 2--3 × ca. 2 mm, lanate, hairs 7--9 mm; style straight, ca.1 mm, pubescent. Fl. May--Jun.

N Hebei, W Heilongjiang, W Jilin, W Liaoning, Nei Mongol, N Xizang [Mongolia, Russia; Europe].

Forest margins, grassy or sandy slopes; 1300--3400 m.

A dense stand of snowdrop anemones

Anemonoides sylvestris (syn. Anemone sylvestris), known as snowdrop anemone or snowdrop windflower, is a perennial plant flowering in spring, native to meadows and dry deciduous woodlands of central and western Europe and temperate Asia. It forms spreading patches, sometimes aggressively spreading.

Another name is wood anemone, but this more commonly refers to the European A. nemorosa or the North American A. quinquefolia.