Cut-leaved Anemone
Anemone multifida
Cut-leaved Anemone (Anemone multifida) is a native perennial with deeply cut, narrow-lobed leaves and small flowers of 5 to 9 petal-like sepals in red, pink, purple, pale yellow or white. It blooms in late spring and early summer on rocky banks, open slopes and meadows, and the 1986 plant survey of Jewel Cave National Monument lists it in the Black Hills. Photographed in the Black Hills.
| Family | Ranunculaceae · Buttercup |
|---|---|
| Status | Native perennial |
| Blooms | May and June |
| Height | 10–60 cm (4–24 in) |
| Where | Rocky banks, grassy slopes, open woods and meadows |
| Also called | Cutleaf Anemone, Red Windflower, Pacific Anemone |
| Synonym | Anemone multifida var. hudsoniana |
Roots, seeds & germination
Root: A stout, often branched caudex, the woody base at the root crown.
Seed: Small achenes (dry, one-seeded fruits), 2 to 3.5 mm long and densely woolly, packed in a round head.
How do you identify Cut-leaved Anemone?
Long-stalked leaves are divided into narrow, pointed lobes, and a whorl of smaller cut leaves sits on the stem below the flowers. Sepals are 5 to 15 mm long, and the flowers give way to a round, fluffy head of woolly seeds. Candle Anemone has a long, cylinder-shaped seed head instead, and Pasque Flower has a flower 4 to 8 cm across.
When does it bloom?
May and June.
Where does it grow?
Shores and rocky banks in lime-rich soil, and also open woods, grassy slopes, rocky outcrops and meadows. The 1986 Jewel Cave survey lists it.
Other flowers to compare
Sources: New York Botanical Garden, Gleason and Cronquist manual: Anemone multifida; The American Southwest: Anemone multifida; The Natural Edge, Watersheds Canada: Cut-leaved Anemone; VASCAN: Anemone multifida; SDSU Open PRAIRIE: Anemone cylindrica; SDSU Open PRAIRIE: Pulsatilla patens ssp. multifida; Marriott and Hartman 1986, A Survey of the Vegetation of Jewel Cave National Monument; National Park Service NPSpecies: Anemone multifida var. multifida, Florissant Fossil Beds.