Anemone Cylindrica

Anemone Cylindrica

Notes: Anemone cylindrica is taller than A. canadensis, 1 1/2’ to 2 1/2’ tall, and branching near the middle where two opposite stalked leaves are attached. The stems are long-hairy. The leaves are smaller and more deeply lobed, with blades 1 1/2” by 2 1/2”. Single flowers are borne on long stalks from the stem tips, one to four per plant, occasionally as many as six. Flowers are similar with white sepals 1/4” long. The central mound of pistils is 1/4” wide and tall. The fruits are one-seeded, 1/16” long, and covered with cottony hairs. The receptacle elongates in fruit to form a “thimble” 3/4” to 1 1/4” long by 1/4” in diameter. Flowering is from early June to early July, and fruiting begins in mid-June. Fruits begin to fly in mid-August, but some persist on the plant into winter. A. cylindrica is common on dry prairies and in open woods as well as on roadsides. Aerial shoots (20-)30-70(-80) cm, from caudices, rarely with very short ascending rhizomes, caudices ascending to vertical. Basal leaves (2-)5-10(-13), ternate; petiole 9-21 cm; terminal leaflet sessile, broadly rhombic to oblanceolate, (2.5-)3-5(-6) × (3-)4-10(-14) cm, base narrowly cuneate, margins crenate, or serrate and deeply incised on distal 1/2, apex narrowly acute, surfaces strigose, more so abaxially; lateral leaflets 1-2×-parted and -lobed; ultimate lobes 4-10(-13) mm wide. Inflorescences (1-)2-8-flowered cymes, sometimes appearing umbellike; peduncle villous to densely villous; involucral bracts 3-7(-9), 2(-3)-tiered (can appear 1-tiered), ternate, ±similar to basal leaves, bases distinct; terminal leaflet sessile, rhombic to oblanceolate, 2.5-6.5 × (1-)1.5-2(-2.5) cm, bases narrowly cuneate, margins serrate and incised on distal 1/3-1/2, apex narrowly acute, surfaces puberulous, more so abaxially; lateral leaflets 1(-2)×-parted or -lobed; ultimate lobes (4-)6-10(-15) mm wide. Flowers: pedicel usually appearing bractless; sepals 4-5(-6), green to whitish, oblong to elliptic or ovate, 5-12(-15) × 3-6 mm, abaxially silky, adaxially glabrous; stamens 50-75. Heads of achenes cylindric; pedicel 10-30 cm.

Achenes: body ovoid, (1.8-)2-3 × 1.5-2 mm, not winged, woolly; beak usually recurved, (0.3-)0.5-1 mm, hidden by achene indument, glabrous. 2 n =16. Flowering summer (Jun-Jul). Prairies, dry, open woods, pastures, roadsides; 300-3000 m; Alta., B.C., Man., Ont., Que., Sask.; Ariz., Colo., Conn., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Vt., Wis., Wyo. The cymes of Anemone cylindrica may appear 1-tiered because the second tier of involucres is closely nestled among the leaves of the first tier. The cymes then resemble umbels with unusually leafy involucral bracts; they might be misinterpreted as such. Anemone cylindrica was used medicinally by Native Americans for headaches, sore eyes, and bad burns, as a psychological aid, and as a relief for tuberculosis (D. E. Moerman 1986). Thimbleweed has a tall, upright stem rising from clumped basal leaves with a whorl of three or more deeply-lobed leaves. The greenish white flowers fruit into a greenish white elongated cluster that resembles the rough part of a thimble. In Greek mythology, a jealous goddess transformed the nymph Anemone into a flower, eternally at the mercy of the north wind. Also called Long-Fruited Thimbleweed, Anemone cylindrica prefers dry, open spaces.Anemone cylindrica is an upright growing, clump forming herbaceous flowering plant species in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants grow 30–100 centimetres (12–39 in) tall, flowering early summer but often found flowering till late summer, the flowers are greenish-white. After flowering, the fruits are produced in a dense rounded columned spikes 20–35 millimetres (0.79–1.38 in) long. When the fruits, called achenes, are ripe they have gray-white colored, densely woolly styles, that allow them to blow away in the wind. (Source: en.wikipedia.org)