Anemone richardsonii : Yellow Wind-flower

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Ranunculaceae (Crowfoot/Buttercup Family)

Genera: Anemone (Wind-flower) (Gk. anemos = wind; possibly referring to the habitat of these plants in exposed windy places)

Species: richardsonii (named for Sir Jonh Richardson 1787-1865, a Scottish naturalist on Franklins expedition to the Arctic)

English Name(s):

Yellow Wind-flower, Yellow Anemone, Richardson's Windflower

First Nation Names:

Structure:

• Plant herbaceous (not woody) with colourless acrid (bitter) juice.
• Rhizomes (underground stems), filiform (threadlike).
• Stems 5-20cm high, pubescent (hairy) on lower part.

Leaves:

• Leaves spaced along the rhizome, long-petioled (stalked), 1-4.5cm long, palmately lobed and margins toothed.
• Cauline (on stem) leaves 3-parted, sharply toothed, whorled and forming a leafy involucrum (ring) below the flowers.

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers single, perfect (bisexual) and of regular symmetry, 1.5-2.5cm in diameter.
• Sepals petal-like, yellow.
• Petals lacking.
• Ovaries superior (above floral parts).

Seed:

• Fruiting head subglobose (subshperical) in shape, achenes few.
• Fruit a dry achene, 3-4mm long, glabrous (hairless), beak slender, 4-6mm long, hooked at apex (tip).

Not to Be Confused With:

• Can be distinguished by other Anemone (Windflower) species by its yellow flowers. All others in our area are white.
• Can be distinguished from simmilar Ranunculus (Buttercup) species by its lack of true petals. Butercups clearly have both petals and sepals.

Physiology:

• The fruits are dispersed by wind, with the hairy style acting as the organ of flight.

Life Cycle:

• Perennial

Seasonal Cycle:

• plants deciduous from rootstock.
• Blooms in early to mid-July.

Animal Uses:

• The flowers of these plants pruduce large amounts of pollen as a reward for insect pollinators, but very little nectar.
• Apparently Anemone (Windflower) species are not well liked as food by either domestic nor wild animals.

Habitat:

• Moist herbmats and willow thickets in tundra, heathlands and woods.

Modern:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

• Plants are used by herbalists to treat abrasions, toothed ache and rheumatism.
• Plants contain the antibiotics anemonin and protoanemonin which are active against broad-spectrum bacteria.

Food:

• Caution: These plants are related to Delphinium and may cause simmilar poisoning. Anemone are listed as poisonous in many publications.

Traditional Gwich'in:

Folklore:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Other:

Folklore:

• According to the Victorian Language of Flowers, Anemones symbolize berevity and expectation.
• Greeks legend says a beautiful nymph named Anemone was part of the entourage of chloris the goddess of flowers. She was lusted by the goddess's husband and was turned into a flower.
• Romans would pick the first Anemone of the year with the incantation "I gather thee for a remedy against disease".
• Some cultures believed breathing the air tainted by Anemone perfume would cause illness or breathing difficulties.

Industrial:

Medicinal:

• Both Victorians and Romans used these plants to cure sex related difficulties.
• Roots of these plants were boiled and the decoction was used to treat paralysis, without much effect, and used for rheumatism and melancholy.
• The cotton from ripe seed heads was burned on hot coals and the smoke was inhaled to relieve headaches.

Food: