Wood Anemone

Overview

Wood anemone colonises ancient woodland at a rate of six feet per century. A dense colony, spreading from a single rhizome outward through decades and centuries of patient lateral growth, may be three hundred years old or more. To walk through a wood anemone carpet in March, before the trees have leafed and while the light still reaches the ground, is to walk through deep time without knowing it. The flowers are white, occasionally flushed pink on the underside, and they move with every breath of wind — hence the old name windflower, from the Greek *anemos*. They close before rain. They know something.

Botanical Notes

A rhizomatous perennial, 6–30cm, with deeply palmately lobed leaves on long stalks and solitary flowers of 6–12 petal-like sepals (true petals are absent), white above, often tinged pink or lilac beneath, from March to May. Spreads almost entirely by rhizome; seed set is uncommon, and the rhizomes extend very slowly, making the species an excellent indicator of ancient, undisturbed woodland. Found throughout Europe in deciduous woodland, particularly under oak, ash, and hazel, on moist, humus-rich soils. Contains protoanemonin, a toxic lactone produced when the plant is damaged — crushed leaves or stems release it. Related to other Ranunculaceae including buttercups, hellebores, and aconite; the family has a consistent theme of toxicity.

Lore & History

In Greek myth the anemone sprang from the blood of Adonis, slain by a wild boar, or from the tears of Aphrodite grieving over him — the accounts vary, as mythological accounts do, on whether the origin was blood or grief. The Romans carried anemones as a charm against fever, believing the first anemone of the season, gathered with the correct words spoken, would protect against illness through the year. In English folklore the wood anemone was ill luck to pick, and worse luck to bring indoors — to cut the flowers was to disturb something in the wood that preferred to be left. This tradition did not prevent the Victorians from picking them enthusiastically for spring arrangements, but the unease attached to the flower persisted in country districts into the twentieth century: a plant that grows so slowly, that knows so precisely where the old woodland was, that closes before the weather changes, can accumulate superstition without effort.

Warnings