Anemone L.
Ranunculaceae, buttercup family.
Sp. Pl. 538.1753.
Anemonoides Mill., Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4. 1754.
Anemonastrum Holub, Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 8: 158. 1973.
Jurtsevia Á.Löve and D.Löve, Bot. Not. 128: 511.
1976.
Anemonidium (Spach) Á.Löve and D.Löve, Taxon
31: 124. 1982.
Vegetative morphology. Plants herbs; perennial herbs; 1–14–30 cm high; with single unbranched stems, or with leaves arising from a caudex; not glandular viscid. Taproot absent. Ground-level or under-ground stems horizontal; rhizomatous; elongate. Aerial stems erect; not conspicuously jointed; not filiform; sparsely hairy, or densely hairy. Branches not glaucous; epidermis not flaky. Leaves arising singly from creeping rhizomes, or basal in a rosette; alternate; not distinctly distichous; simple, or compound; existing for a single season or less. Petioles present; 10–170 mm long. Leaf blade bases cordate, or cuneate. Blades 10–550 mm long; 10–55 mm wide. Blades herbaceous; circular, or obovate, or reniform; without auricles; flat, or revolute; veins pinnate, or veins palmate; not septate nodulose. Blades adaxial surface dull; glabrous, or glabrescent, or scabrous, or hairy. Blades adaxial surface hairs villous, or short-silky; simple, unbranched; sparse; white and translucent. Blades abaxial surface glabrescent, or hairy. Blades abaxial surface hairs sparse, or moderately dense. Blades abaxial surface villous, or hairs short-silky. Blades abaxial surface hairs white, or translucent hairs. Blade margins lobed. Blade margins entire, or serrate, or crenate; glabrous, or with non-glandular hairs; with teeth all around the blade. Conspicuous hydathodes absent. Leaf apices acute, or obtuse. Leaflet arrangement palmate. Leaflets 3; 20–60 mm long; 1–4 mm wide; obovate.
Reproductive morphology. Plants bisexual. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems conspicuously taller than the leaves; without leaves; hairy. Flowering culm nodes not rooting at the lower nodes. Flag leaf sheaths not inflated. Leaf or reduced bract closely associated with the base of the inflorescence absent; without calloused tip. Flowers solitary, or in inflorescences. Inflorescence cymose; without bulbils; main axis hairy. Pedicels present. Bisexual spike(s) without empty bracts at the base. Involucral bracts present. Outer involucral bracts blade surface flat, or blades cut into linear divisions. Flowers per inflorescence 2–4; large, more than 15 mm in diameter or length; actinomorphic. Floral scales not reflexed; not falling early. Callus not differentiated. Perianth present. Calyx present (in the Anemones, petals are not present, but the sepals are coloured and resemble petals. The anemones in the Arctic have a whorl of leaves surrounding the flowering stem below the inflorescence.). Calyx sepals 5–7, or 8; free; 8–17.62–45 mm long. Calyx yellow, or purple, or red, or blue, or white or translucent; petaloid; hairy. Calyx hairs white or translucent. Petals present, or absent; free; longer than the calyx; without contrasting markings. Flowers bisexual. Stamens 30–85; filaments all equal in length; free of the corolla; filaments glabrous. Anthers 0.65–1.8 mm long. Nectaries absent. Receptacle 3–6 mm high. Carpels apocarpous; 20–85. Ovaries hairy; villous. Ovary hairs dense; white, or translucent. Styles base not enlarged, continuous with the achene. Placentation axile. Fruit stalk 4–21 mm long. Fruit without calyx persisting; dry; an achene; ellipsoid, or ovoid, or elongate-cylindrical, or obovate, or oblong; indehiscent. Fruit 2–5 mm long; 0.8–1.7 mm wide; brown; glabrous, or hairy. Legume valves straight. Styles modified and persisting; remaining straight; persisting in fruit 0.8–38 mm long. Seeds 1.
Chromosome information. 2n = 14, 16, 32.
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: circumpolar; Greenland, Canada, United States, Eurasia. Low arctic, or alpine, or boreal. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago limited, or moderate. Uncommon, or rare. Arctic Islands: Banks, Victoria.
Ecology and habitat. Habitats: The anemones are called “windflowers” because they are generally alpine flowers, often growing in windy places and tall enough to be blown about by the wind. Many of the arctic anemones are “snow bank” species; they occur at the edges of deep, late-melting snowbanks. Plants that occur in such places are not necessarily the most hardy plants, nor those of the greatest “arctic affinities” (Yound 1989). Snowbanks becomes established during the soft, heavy snows of autumn, and become deepest where the most snow collects. This means that the plants under the snow are the ones receiving the greatest insulation and protection from the desiccating winds of winter. They also benefit from a steady source of reliable moisture during the growing season. Snowbank species are “quick starters”; they are able to start growing very quickly when exposed by snowmelt (Burt 2000).
Notes. Elven et al. (2002) were aware of a need to decide between a
narrow genus concept, including in Anemone in the genera
Anemonoides Mill., Anemonastrum Holub and Anemonidium
(Spach) - or a broad that has been follwed here. Anemonidium includes
A. canadensis and A. dichotoma, Anemonoides includes A.
nemorosa, Jurtsevia includes A. richardsonii, Anemone
s. str. includes A. sylvestris to A. multifida, and
Anemonastrum includes the A. narcissiflora group. A broad concept
should perhaps also include Pulsatilla. Inclusion of all the others but
exclusion of Pulsatilla is not in accordance with assumed phylogeny of
the group. Elven et al (2002) retained Pulsatilla as a genus.
F.
Cite this publication as: ‘S.G. Aiken, M.J. Dallwitz, L.L. Consaul, C.L. McJannet, L.J. Gillespie, R.L. Boles, G.W. Argus, J.M. Gillett, P.J. Scott, R. Elven, M.C. LeBlanc, A.K. Brysting and H. Solstad. 1999 onwards. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 29th April 2003. http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/’. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).