Читать книгу Wayside and Woodland Blossoms - Step Edward - Страница 7

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One of the earliest of spring-flowers to greet us in the copse, by the woodside and in upland meadows is this bright-faced flower. Its firm, fleshy, almost woody rootstock creeps just below the surface of the mossy soil, and rapidly sends up its stems with folded leaves and drooping buds, after one or two genial days.

The Anemones constitute the genus Anemone of the natural ordera Ranunculaceæ, and are characterized by having no corolla (petals). Instead, the six sepals (calyx) are coloured—in this case a very delicate pink-washed white inside, lightly tinged with purple outside. As a rule the stem bears three leaves, each split up into three leaflets, which are deeply toothed. Flowers from late March till early June. The name is derived from the Greek anemos—the wind—and was given because it was believed to open its buds only when the winds were blowing. Richard Jefferies, curiously ignoring the meaning of the word, entitled a chapter in one of his earlier works—“Wind Anemones.”

Wood Anemone. Anemone nemorosa. —Ranunculaceæ.—

Sweet Violet. Viola odorata. —Violaceæ.—

There is one other native species:—

The Pasque-flower (A. pulsatilla). Blossoms before the leaves mature. Flowers dull purple; exterior covered with silky hairs; leaves also silky. Fruit, little nutlets (achenes) provided with long feathered awns, with which they float on the wind when ripe. Flowers, May and June, on chalk downs and limestone pastures in Essex and Gloucestershire, and from York to Norfolk.