''Anemonoides nemorosa'' (syn. ''Anemone nemorosa''), the wood anemone, is an early-spring

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the

buttercup ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...

family

Ranunculaceae Ranunculaceae (, buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family (biology), family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 spec ...

, native to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Other common names include windflower, European thimbleweed, and smell fox, an allusion to the musky smell of the leaves. It is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

plant growing tall.

Description

''Anemonoides nemorosa'' is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

herbaceous perennial plant less than in height. The compound basal leaves are palmate or ternate (divided into three lobes). They grow from underground root-like stems called

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

s and die back down by mid summer (summer dormant). The plants start blooming in spring, March to May in the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

soon after the foliage emerges from the ground. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are solitary, held above the foliage on short stems, with a whorl of three palmate or palmately-lobed leaflike bracts beneath. The flowers are diameter, with six or seven (and on rare occasions eight to ten)

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s (petal-like segments) with many

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s. In the wild the flowers are usually white but may be pinkish, lilac or blue, and often have a darker tint on the backs of the tepals.

Similar species

The yellow wood anemone (''Anemonoides ranunculoides'') is slightly smaller, with yellow flowers and usually without basal leaves. Wood sorrel ''

Oxalis acetosella ''Oxalis acetosella'', the wood-sorrel or common wood-sorrel, is a herbaceous rhizome, rhizomatous flowering plant in the family Oxalidaceae. The Botanical name, specific epithet ''acetosella'' refers to its sour taste. The common name wood-sorr ...

'', which grows in similar shaded places, can be readily distinguished by its 3-parted, clover-like leaves and smaller flowers with only white petals and 5 sepals.Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. ''Webb's An Irish Flora''. Cork University Press.

Distribution and habitat

The native range of ''Anemonoides nemorosa'' extends across

to western

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, reaching as far south as the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It has been introduced into

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and elsewhere. In

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, there are naturalized populations at well-known sites in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, and

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. ''A. nemorosa'' is often found in shady woods. The species is common in the

but it spreads very slowly there, by as little as six feet per century, so it is often used as an indicator for ancient woodland.

Ecology

Apis mellifera - Anemone nemorosa - Keila2

The flowers are

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; bird ...

by insects, especially

hoverflies Hoverflies, also called flower flies or syrphids, make up the insect family (biology), family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen Hover (behaviour), hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed main ...

.Blank, S. and M. Wulf
on seed production and pollinator biology of ''Anemone nemorosa'' (''Buschwindröschen'').
Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). 2008. The seeds are achenes.

In cultivation

Many

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s have been selected for garden use, The ''RHS Plant Finder 2008–2009'' lists 70 cultivars sold by nurseries in the UK. Some of the most widely available are: Symrer1

* 'Alba Plena' - double white * 'Allenii' - large lavender-blue flowers, often with seven petals (named after James Allen, nurseryman) * 'Bowles' Purple' - purple flowers (named after E.A. Bowles, plantsman and garden writer) * 'Bracteata Pleniflora' - double, white flowers, with green streaks and a frilly ruff of

bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also loo ...

* 'Robinsoniana' - pale lavender-blue flowers (named after William Robinson, plantsman and garden writer) * 'Royal Blue' - deep blue flowers with purple backs * 'Vestal' - white, anemone-centred flowers * 'Virescens' - flowers mutated into small conical clusters of leaves Those marked are recipients of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

. ''Anemonoides'' × ''lipsiensis'', a hybrid between ''A. nemorosa'' and ''A. ranunculoides'', has pale yellow flowers; ''A.'' × ''lipsiensis'' 'Pallida' is the best-known result of this cross. It has also been awarded the AGM.

Gallery

File:2023 05 - Flemingsbergsskogens naturreservat Anemonoides Nemorosa.tif, 2023 05 - Flemingsbergsskogens naturreservat Anemonoides Nemorosa, ''Anemonoides nemorosa'' in Flemingsbergsskogens naturreservat, Sweden File:Anemone nemorosa LC0256.jpg, alt=A wood anemone in flower,, Form in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

, Germany File:Zawilec gajowy cm02.jpg, Colonial growth in forest, Radziejowice, Poland File:DoubleWoodAnemone.jpg, Double-flowered cultivar in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England File:Anemone nemorosa pink 240406.jpg, Pink-flowered plant in

Hohenlohe The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It formerly ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire, which was divided between several branches. In 1806, the area of Hohenlohe was 1,760 km² and its estimated pop ...

, Germany File:Anemone Nemorosa 6-9.jpg, Flowers with six, seven, eight and nine tepals File:Wood Anemone (Anemonoides nemerosa).jpg, A flowering wood anemone. Bosanemoon (Anemone nemorosa) 18-03-2024 (d.j.b.).jpg, Half-opened fragile flower bud of a Anemonoides nemorosa.