Canada Anemone

Anemone canadensis is in the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). These moisture loving flowers shine from their home like stars welcoming you into and along their galaxy, for their rhizomes allow them to spread into colonies. Like some of its relatives (such as marsh marigold), Canada anemone has 5 petal-like sepals instead of petals. What looks like petals are actually the protective sepals of the calyx opening up. The calyx is the structure (usually green) that surrounds flower petals and ends up beneath them when the flower opens. In the case of Canada anemone, the sepals are white, opening into pure loveliness dotting the shorelines of lakes, riverbanks, wet ditches and meadows.

The long-stalked basal leaves of this native species are deeply divided into 3 to 5 wedge-shaped lobes. At the top of each stem is a whorl of 3 stalkless leaves (similarly deeply lobed) surrounding the stem. Multiple stems and flower stalks emerge from the center of the whorl. Flowers are are about 1 to 1.5″ wide.

Look for Canada anemone flowers to be opening just about the time when wild rose, goat’s beard and American vetch are doing the same, blooming into their season of late spring into the summer months, May into July.