Anemone L.

Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous; rootstock covered with persistent leaf-bases; stems erect, simple, branched or scapose. Leaves radical or cauline, 3- to 5-lobed or partite, petiolate. Flowers actinomorphic, solitary or several in cymes or umbels; flowering stems With an involucre of 2 - 3(-4) leafy bracts below flowers. Sepals single-whorled, 4- 6(-14), petaloid Petals (honey leaves) absent. Stamens numerous. Carpels many, with one ovule in each. Achenes numerous in a head, ovoid, compressed or not, embedded in wool or not; style short, persistent, not feathery.

Cold temperate regions of N. hemisphere; ca 150 species, 17 in India.

Literature. BRUEHL, P. (1896) Aconitum L. In: Bruehl & King, A centuty of new and rare Indian plants. Ann. R. Bot. Gard. Calc. 5: 75 - 82. LAUENER, L. A. (1960) Notes on Anemone obtusiloba and its allies. Notes R. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 23: 179 - 201. ULBRICH, E. (1906 - 7) Uber die systematische Gliederung und geographische Verbreitung der Gattung Anemone L. Bot. Jahrb. 37: 172 - 334, tt. 1 - 3.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

1a. Achenes embedded in wool

2

b. Achenes not embedded in wool

4

2a. Flowers many, in decompound cymes

17. Anemone vitifolia

b. Flowers few, 1 - 3

3

3a. Scapes glabrous; Flowers small, 2 - 3 cm in diam., dull red

1. Anemone biflora

b. Scapes silky hairy; flowers large, ca 5 cm in diam., white

13. Anemone rupicola

4a. Achenes strongly compressed

5

b. Achenes oblong-cylindric, not or slightly compressed

10

5a. Flowers on scapes or in Simple umbels

6

b. Flowers in branched umbels or in cymes

7

6a. Flowers up to 5 cm in diam., rose, pink, purple or mauve; persistent old leaf bases shredding into long black-gery fibrous strands

14. Anemone smithiana

b. Flowers ca 2.5 cm in diam., white or blue; persistent old leaf bases not as above

2. Anemone demissa

7a. Leaves 3-lobed or 3-sect

8

b. Leaves 5-to 7-lobed

9

8a. Flowers in lax umbellate cymes; stamens 50 - 70; carpels 10 -15

3. Anemone elongata

b. Flowers in lax dichasial cymes, not umbellate; stamens 20 - 35; carpels 3 -6

10. Anemone raui

9a. Flowers 2 - 3 cm across; involucels similar to involucral leaves; sepals usually 5 - 8

8. Anemone polyanthes

b. Flowers 3 - 4 cm across; involucels much smaller than involucral leaves; sepals usually 4

15. Anemone tetrasepala

10a. Flowers many in compound cymes

11. Anemone rivularis

b. Flowers on simple scapcs, few-flowered or flowers solitary

11

11a. Involucral leaves stalked

5. Anemone griffithii

b. Involucral leaves sessile

12

12a. Leaves trifoliolate; terminal leaflet distinctly stalked

12. Anemone rupestris

b. Leaves trisect or tridentate or pinnatisect, if trifoliolate terminal leaflet not stalked

13

13a. Leaves lobed or toothed, never divided to base or midrib

14

b. Leaves divided more than halfway down or up to the base

15

14a. Herbs densely haity; achenes hirsute

16. Anemone trullifolia

b. Herbs glabrous; achenes glabrous

6. Anemone howellii

15a. Sepals slightly longer than receptacle

4. Anemone geum

b. Sepals more than twice as long as the length of the receptacle

16

16a. Carpels with profuse rigid hairs

7. Anemone obtusiloba

b. Carpels glabrous or with a few rigid hairs

9. Anemone polycarpa

List of Lower Taxa