Anemone parviflora Michx.
Northern White Anemone, Few-flowered Anemone.
Ranunculaceae, buttercup family.
Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1:319.1803
Type: Described from Canada: Hudson Bay area
Anemone borealis Richardson
Anemone parviflora Michx. var.
grandiflora Ulbrich
Vegetative morphology. Plants perennial herbs; 5–15 cm high; with glossy, dark green basal leaves arising from a caudex. Aerial stems erect; sparsely hairy. Leaves basal in a rosette; alternate. Petioles 20–55 mm long. Leaf blade bases cuneate. Blades 140–180 mm long; 10–14 mm wide. Blades obovate; flat, or revolute (slightly); veins pinnate. Blades adaxial surface glabrescent. Blades adaxial surface hairs simple, unbranched. Blades abaxial surface glabrescent. Blades abaxial surface hairs sparse; white, or translucent hairs. Blade margins lobed. Blade margins crenate, or serrate; with non-glandular hairs; with teeth all around the blade. Leaf apices obtuse.
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems conspicuously taller than the leaves; without leaves; hairy. Flowers solitary. Involucral bracts present (2–3, 1-tiered). Outer involucral bracts blade surface flat. Flowers large, more than 15 mm in diameter or length. Calyx sepals 5 (4–7); free; 10–20 mm long. Calyx blue, or white or translucent (white with bluish tinge on back); petaloid; hairy. Calyx hairs white or translucent. Petals absent. Stamens 60–70; filaments glabrous. Anthers 0.8–1.2 mm long. Receptacle 3–6 mm high. Carpels apocarpous; 60 (60–80). Fruit stalk 4–18 mm long. Fruit dry; an achene; elongate-cylindrical; indehiscent. Fruit 2–3 mm long; 1–1.5 mm wide; brown; hairy (densely woolly). Styles modified and persisting; remaining straight; persisting in fruit 1–2 mm long.
Chromosome information. 2n = 16 and 32. 16 (2x).
- Löve and Löve (1975) listed several arctic and non-arctic counts,
e.g., Packer (1964 western Canada); Zhukova (1965, 1969 north eastern Asia);
Taylor and Brockman (1966 western Canada); Johnson and Packer (1968 northwestern
Alaska ); Baumberger (1970); Zhukova and Tikhonova (1971 Chukotka); Löve
and Löve (1982 arctic Canada); Zhukova (1982 north eastern Asia); Chinnappa
and Chmielewski (1987 western North America).
32 (4x). - Baumberger
(1970).
A chromosome count of 2n = 14 (Bormann and Beatty 1955 Alaska
Umiat) might be aneyploid or a slight miscount. It has not been accepted until
confirmed (Elven et al. 2003).
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: North American (mainly), or Far East (slightly); Greenland, Canada, United States, Eurasia. Low arctic, or alpine. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago limited. Uncommon. Arctic Islands: Banks, Victoria.
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: calcareous, or non-calcareous. Habitats: In the arctic coast region this anemone commonly occurs at the edges of high tundra ponds, and in protected areas where snowbanks linger into the summer. It seems to prefer calcareous soils (Burt, 2000).
Notes. Burt (2000) claimed that in northcentral continental North America, this species can be confused with the flower of the akpik, or cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) but the akpik has both petals and sepals and its stem leaves are alternate rather than whorled and much larger than the anemone. On continental North America when this anemone is in full bloom it is much taller and more flexible than the cloudberry.
Illustrations. • Habitat. Plants with white flowers near the centre of the picture, growing on a south facing slope of a side stream that still has frozen snow banks along the edge. N.W.T., Banks Island, Aulavik National Park. 4 July, 1999. Aiken 99–017, CAN. • Plants in habitat. Plants near centre of the picture, growing on a south facing slope of a side stream, N.W.T., Banks Island, Aulavik National Park. 4 July, 1999. Susan Aiken 99–017, CAN. • Habitat. Nunavut, Victoria Island. Mount Pelly, about 1/4 way up west south-west facing slope. 69°10'N, 104°43'W. Very moist mossy soil, in erosion gully from snow melt. Elev. about 110 metres. Plant 15 cm tall. From locality of L.L. Consaul 1117 and L.J. Gillespie and students from Nunavut Natural History school, Cambridge Bay. • Habitat. Nunavut, Victoria Island. Mount Pelly, about 1/4 way up west south-west facing slope. 69°10'N, 104°43'W. Very moist mossy soil, in erosion gully from snow melt. Elev. about 110 metres. Plant 15 cm tall. From locality of L.L. Consaul 1117 and L.J. Gillespie and students from Nunavut Natural History school, Cambridge Bay. • Plant habit. Plants growing on a south facing slope of a side stream, N.W.T., Banks Island, Aulavik National Park. 4 July, 1999. Aiken 99–017, CAN. • Flowers. Flowers showing varying numbers of tepals that are white when viewed from above. N.W.T., Banks Island, Aulavik National Park. 4 July, 1999. Aiken 99–017, CAN. • Underside of tepals. Flowers showing the underside of the tepals that are blue-purple. N.W.T., Banks Island, Aulavik National Park. 4 July, 1999. Aiken 99–017, CAN. • Flower pre-anthesis. Petals, slightly notched, numerous anthers forming a ring of yellow knobs beside the petals, developing carpels spikey in the center of the flower. N.W.T., Banks Island Aulavik National Park. 4 July, 1999. Aiken 99–017, CAN. • Close-up of flower. Nunavut, Victoria Island. Mount Pelly, about 1/4 way up west south-west facing slope. 69°10'N, 104°43'W. Very moist mossy soil, in erosion gully from snow melt. Elev. about 110 metres. Plant 15 cm tall. From locality of L.L. Consaul 1117 and L.J. Gillespie and students from Nunavut Natural History school, Cambridge Bay. • Close-up of fruiting inflorescence. 'Seeds', individual carpels, dehiscing from a flower in fruit. Plant collected in the N.W.T. on the Arctic Coast at Cape Dalhousie, 7–14 August, 1927, A.E. and R.T. Porsild 2756. CAN 57598. • Arctic Island distribution.
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).
