Buttercup Anemone is a common perennial plant. Its small bright flowers appear in mid-spring.
This plant belongs to the ranunculaceae family. In the world there are about one and a half hundred varieties of anemones.
Title
What does this flower owe its unusual name? Perhaps his character is too windy?
The petals of buttercup anemone are really ready to break and fly away with every slightest blow. For this feature, the plant got its first name "anemone". Well, she was called “buttercup” because of her belonging to the family.
Scientists call this plant anemone.
External features
This is not to say that this plant has outstanding decorative characteristics. But, you must admit, its flowers, similar to small suns or stars, are pleasing to the eye and look especially impressive against the background of juicy green leaves.
An enlarged photo of buttercup anemone will help to imagine how this plant looks.
A flower has at least five petals. The leaves are bifurcated, painted in a saturated green color. The stalk reaches a height of 20 cm.
Varieties
The description of buttercup anemone can be supplemented by a list of several of the most common species. They are similar to each other, but each has its own characteristics.
Noble anemone reaches a height of 12 cm. Its leaves begin to grow directly from the root. On top of the leaflets are painted dark green, and their lower surface is burgundy purple. The plant begins to bloom in winter. Its flowers can be white, blue, pink or purple.
Canadian anemone leaves are serrated and very dissected. The plant blooms in April-May, and the flowering period lasts a whole month.
Japanese terry anemone can be grown at home. The stalk can reach a height of 70 cm. Its flowers are not only very beautiful thanks to graceful petals, they also smell very nice. This variety is characterized by an even longer flowering period: it can please the owner all summer. Weather changes are not terrible for this plant.
Forest anemone, as you might guess, grows in the forest. This is an early variety, it begins to bloom in April. In height, the plant can reach half a meter.
The rock species can be admired in the south. But in order to find out what the buttercup anemone alpine looks like, you will have to rise to a height of 2000-3000 thousand meters. This is a very beautiful variety with purple flowers, which bloom in May. The plant grows non-intensively, occupying an increasingly large area.
Breeding
Buttercup Anemone - a flower with a long life cycle. Flowers bloom for a short time, but the plant itself has lived for several decades.
Anemone propagates by rhizomes that constantly branch. Immediately on several sections of the root system, new foci of growth are formed. Thanks to such reproduction, forest thickets can be covered with huge thickets of anemones.
Vegetative reproduction and due to a considerable life expectancy. An anemone lives on average 50 years.
Spread
Buttercup Anemone - a thermophilic plant. It is most common in the southern regions of Russia, but it also occurs in the middle lane.
Many varieties of anemone belonging to the ranunculaceae family need moist soil. Some varieties growing in mountainous areas prefer only hard calcareous soils.
Anemones grow not only in the wild, this plant can be a wonderful decoration for a garden plot or flower bed near the entrance of a multi-storey building. Often, buttercup anemone is planted in city parks and squares. And this plant is great for decorating alpine slides.
Self-cultivation and care
Growing anemones is easy. Of course, it all depends on the variety, but you can highlight some general recommendations.
Many gardeners note that the rhizome brought from the forest feels great in the country or in the flower bed. It perfectly takes root, does not need frequent watering, and quickly sprouts. True, the flowers will have to wait a long time, in some cases they may appear no earlier than a dozen years.
Shade-loving anemone species are plants that live best in cool places. You can plant them in the garden, under fruit trees. These varieties are usually unpretentious, in addition, they are considered early.
Application in traditional medicine
From ancient times, buttercup anemone was valued among the healers. Nowadays, this plant is used not only in traditional medicine, but also in pharmaceutical production. Some parts of the plant are used to make medicines.
For therapeutic purposes, dried anemone leaves are used. They have various properties and are used for different purposes.
This plant was used back in the Middle Ages with the goal of treating asthma and other respiratory diseases. True, microdoses of the drug were necessary for the therapeutic effect.
The components contained in the leaves can have a painkiller and hemostatic effect, due to which in ancient times the plant was often used for healing wounds.
With the help of dried leaves, healers and sorcerers treated warts, blisters, abscesses. An infusion made from dried anemones could be used to reduce headaches and toothaches.
If you are also fond of traditional medicine recipes and studying the medicinal properties of plants, remember: anemone leaves contain dangerous anemone poison. The use of dried plant fragments in large doses is hazardous to health.