Wood Anemone
Anemone quinquefolia
I remember the first time I saw Wood Anemone, by the stream at the bottom of East Woods. It’s magical down there: so much moss, the brook gently gurgling, spring ephemerals (and possibly fairies) dancing in the dappled sunlight.
Wood Anemone flowers are mostly white, but sometimes pink. Finding a pink one feels special— like finding a four-leaved clover.
The flowers close up when it’s cloudy, and at night. Sometimes you’ll even see a few closed up in the shade of a tree trunk, mere feet away from fully open blooms receiving more direct sunlight.
Anemone quinquefolia grows in groups, you’ll most commonly see patches of them rather than rogue individuals. Look closer at these groupings and you’ll notice not all individuals produce blooms. Some plants will only produce a leaf, divided into five leaflets, while the flowering individuals have three leaves divided each into three leaflets.
Wood Anemone is yet another spring ephemeral whose seeds are dispersed by ants in a process called myrmecochory. See my post on Hepatica for a detailed description of this.
You’ll find Wood Anemone where you find many other ephemerals: in rich woodlands. It shows up on mossy ledges, near rivers and streams, at the base of trees.
Just follow your intuition: where would the fairies be?
All illustrations and photos are my own.
Note: This is the fifteenth in a series of posts on spring ephemeral wildflowers.
Previous posts:
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