Western windflower

Anemone quinquefolia Linnaeus var. grayi (Behr & Kellogg) Jepson; A. quinquefolia var. minor (Eastwood) Munz

Aerial shoots (3-)10-30(-40) cm, from rhizomes, rhizomes horizontal, occasionally ascending. Basal leaves usually absent, occasionally 1, ternate; petiole (1.5-)2.5-20(-25) cm; terminal leaflet sessile or petiolulate, ovate to rhombic or oblanceolate, (1-)1.5-4.5(-5) × (0.6-)1-2.5(-3.5) cm, base cuneate, margins crenate, sometimes coarsely serrate, on distal 1/2-2/3, apex narrowly acute to acute, surfaces white-puberulous to pilose to nearly glabrous; lateral leaflets unlobed, rarely scarcely 1×-lobed; ultimate lobes 4-12 mm wide. Inflorescences 1-flowered; peduncle proximally glabrous, distally villous or pilose; involucral bracts 3, 1-tiered, ternate, ±similar to basal leaves, bases distinct; terminal leaflet sessile to petiolulate, ovate to rhombic or oblanceolate, (1-)1.5-4.5(-5) × (0.6-)1-2.5(-3.5) cm, bases cuneate, margins crenate, sometimes coarsely serrate, on distal 1/2-2/3, apex narrowly acute to acute, surfaces white-puberulous to pilose to nearly glabrous; lateral leaflets unlobed, rarely scarcely 1×-lobed; ultimate lobes 4-12 mm wide. Flowers: sepals 5-6, white or blue, elliptic to obovate, rarely ovate, 7-15 × 4-8 mm, glabrous; stamens 25-40. Heads of achenes nearly spheric; pedicel (0.5-)3-10 cm in fruit. Achenes: body elliptic, flat, 3-4 × 1.5-2 mm, not winged, puberulous to pilose; beak curved or recurved, 0.6-1 mm, glabrous. 2 n =16.

Flowering winter-early summer (Feb-Jun). Shaded woods, wooded slopes; 100-900 m; Calif., Oreg.

The rhizomes of Anemone grayi tend to be knobby rather than filiform as in A . lyallii and A . oregana . Investigation of the populations in which these three species overlap and appear to intergrade in southern Oregon and northern California is needed to clarify the taxonomic relationships among them.