Anemone cylindrica (Long-Fruited Anemone) - photos and description
Fruiting head elongated.
Basal leaf
in above photo
Stem leaf
in above photo
Origin: Native.
General: Erect growth habit, usually with several flowering stems, each bearing a single, greenish-white flower. Stems branching at the involucral leaves. Foliage densely woolly.
Flowers: Each flowering stem bearing a single, greenish-white flower. We measured a flower at 23 mm in diameter. The flower consists of 5 sepals (no petals), sepal measured from 8 to 11 mm long. Styles were measured at 0.5 mm long (so short they're difficult to measure when using a loupe and a ruler). Fruiting head is elongated and cylindrical.
Leaves: Stem leaves only in 1 involucral whorl, each stem leaf divided into 3-5 segments. Stem leaf highlighted in photo above was 9 cm wide. Basal leaves on long stalks, basal leaves digitately dissected to the base. Leaf lobes not as narrow as Anemone multifida whose leaf lobes are only 2-3 mm in width.
Height: Height is listed in Budd's Flora to 60 cm, we measured plants to 42 cm tall.
Habitat: Prairies and open woods.
Abundance: Common.
Similar species: This plant is very similar to
Anemone virginiana. The
differences:
- Leaf lobes serrate or not: A. virginiana has leaf lobes which are serrate on
one side for half their length or more (Flora of Alberta); leaflets
more or less serrate (Taxonomic Reminder for Recognizing Saskatchewan Plants).
A. cylindrica has leaf lobes merely coarsely toothed at apex (Flora of
Alberta); lobes nowhere serrate (Taxonomic Reminder for Recognizing
Saskatchewan Plants).
- Length of styles: A. virginiana: 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm long (Flora of
Alberta). A. cylindrica: about 0.5 mm long (Flora of Alberta).
- Sepal length: Budd's Flora uses sepal length in its key to separate
the two species, but I wouldn't use this characteristic to identify these
plants. Flora of Alberta
and Budd's Flora disagree on sepal length, and furthermore
Flora of Alberta believes there is an overlap in sepal length between the
two species. (Flora of Alberta)
A. virginiana 7 mm to 20 mm long; A. cylindrica
5 mm to 15 mm long. (Budd's Flora) A. virginiana 10 to 20 mm
long; A. cylindrica 8 to 10 mm long.
When and where photographed: Took the above photos June 24th, prairie hillside, Cypress Hills, about 425 km southwest of Regina, SK, and June 29th grassy meadow in the Nisbet Provincial Forest, about 400 km north of Regina, SK, and July 5th, prairie alongside the Qu'Appelle Valley, about 35 km north of our home in Regina, SK.