''Anemonastrum narcissiflorum'', the narcissus anemone or narcissus-flowered anemone, is a

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 t ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

in the genus ''

Anemonastrum ''Anemonastrum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are native to the temperate and subarctic regions of North America, Greenland, Europe, Asia, South America, and New Zealand. The generic na ...

'' and the

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

Basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

: ''Anemone narcissiflora'' Hook. & Arn.

Description

Plants grow tall, from a

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

(woody-like perennial base), flowering spring to mid summer but often found flowering till late summer. They have 3-10 basal leaves that are ternate (arranged with three leaflets), rounded to rounded triangular in shape with long petioles. The flowers are produced in clusters (

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

s) with 2 to 8 flowers, but often appear singly. The inflorescence have 3 leaf-like bracts similar in appearance to the basal leaves but simple and greatly reduced in size,

pinnatifid Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common Anatomical terms of location#Axes, axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology (biology), morphology, in Crysta ...

in shape. Flowers have no

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s, but instead have 5-9 petal-like

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s that are white, blue-tinted white or yellow in color. The flowers usually have 40 to 80 stamens but can have up to 100. After flowering, fruits are produced in rounded heads with long

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

. When the fruits, called achenes, are ripe they are ellipsoid to ovate in outline, flat in shape and long and wide. The achenes are winged with no hairs and have long beaks that are curved or recurved.

Distribution and habitat

''Anemonastrum narcissiflorum'' is native to north western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...

where it can be found growing in high mountain alpine grasslands, in thickets, grassy meadows with moist soils, tundra, open woods, along roadsides and in pastures.

Varieties

This species is very variable and at least 12 varieties are generally recognized with even more proposed by other authorities. The name of the species has been in dispute and some have listed it as ''Anemone narcissifolia'' but ''Anemone narcissiflora'' was proposed for conservation. Three varieties are native to North America: *''Anemone narcissiflora'' L. var. ''villosissima'' DC. - Alaska *''Anemone narcissiflora'' L. var. ''monantha'' DC. - Alaska and Eastern Yukon and Northern

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

*''Anemone narcissiflora'' L. var. ''zephyra'' (A. Nels.) Dutton & Keener – Colorado and Wyoming The others are from Eurasia.

Gallery

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q161043, from2=Q89083217 narcissiflorum Flora of Subarctic America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Western Canada Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora without expected TNC conservation status