Sepals 4, or rarely more, colored, the valvate margins turned inward in the bud. Petals none or small. Achenes numerous in a head, bearing the persistent styles as naked, hairy, or plumose tails.—Perennial herbs or vines, mostly a little woody, and climbing by the bending or clasping of the leaf-stalks, rarely low and erect. Leaves opposite. (Κληματίς, a name of Dioscorides for a climbing plant with long and lithe branches.)
§ 1. FLÁMMULA. Flowers cymose-paniculate, rather small, in our species diœcious. Sepals petaloid, whitish, spreading, thin. Petals none. Anthers short, blunt.
1. C. Virginiàna, L. (Common Virgin's-Bower.) Smooth; leaves bearing 3 ovate acute leaflets, which are cut or lobed, and somewhat heart-shaped at the base; tails of the fruit plumose.—River-banks, etc., common; climbing over shrubs. July, August.
2. C. ligusticifòlia, Nutt. Very similar, but the leaves 5-foliolate or quinate-ternate.—Long Pine, Neb., and west to the Pacific.
§ 2. VIÓRNA. Flowers large, solitary on long peduncles, usually nodding. Sepals thick, erect and connivent at base, mostly dull purple. Petals none. Anthers linear.
[+] Stems climbing; leaves pinnate; calyx (and foliage) glabrous or puberulent.
3. C. Viórna, L. (Leather-Flower.) Calyx ovate and at length bell-shaped; the purplish sepals (1´ long) very thick and leathery, wholly connivent or only the tips recurved; long tails of the fruit very plumose; leaflets 3–7, ovate or oblong, sometimes slightly cordate, 2–3-lobed or entire; uppermost leaves often simple.—Rich soil, Penn. to Mo., and southward. May–Aug.
4. C. Pítcheri, Torr. & Gray. Calyx bell-shaped; the dull purplish sepals with narrow and slightly margined recurved points; tails of the fruit filiform and naked or shortly villous; leaflets 3–9, ovate or somewhat cordate, entire or 3-lobed, much reticulated; uppermost leaves often simple.—S. Ind. to Kan., and Tex. June.
5. C. críspa, L. Calyx cylindraceous below, the upper half of the bluish-purple sepals (1–2´ long) dilated and widely spreading, with broad and wavy thin margins; tails of the fruit silky or glabrate; leaflets 5–9, thin, varying from ovate or cordate to lanceolate, entire or 3–5-parted. (C. cylindrica, Sims.)—Va. near Norfolk, and southward. May–Aug.
[+][+] Low and erect, mostly simple; flowers solitary, terminal; leaves sessile or nearly so, undivided, strongly reticulated.
6. C. ochroleùca, Ait. Leaves ovate, entire or sometimes 3-lobed, silky beneath; peduncles long; tails of the fruit very plumose.—Copses, Long Island to Penn. and Ga.; rare. May.
7. C. Fremónti, Watson. Leaves crowded, thick, often coarsely toothed, sparingly villous-tomentose; peduncles very short; tails villous or glabrate, not plumose.—Mo. and Kan.
§ 3. ATRÁGENE. Some of the outer filaments enlarged and more or less petaloid; peduncles bearing single large flowers; the thin sepals widely spreading.
8. C. verticillàris, DC. Woody-stemmed climber, almost glabrous; leaves trifoliolate, with slender common and partial petioles; leaflets ovate or slightly heart-shaped, pointed, entire, or sparingly toothed or lobed; flower bluish-purple, 2–3´ across; tails of the fruit plumose.—Rocky places in mountainous districts, Maine and W. New Eng. to Va., Minn., and northwestward; rare. May.—A pair of leaves with a peduncle between them, developed in spring from each of the opposite buds, gives the appearance of a whorl, whence the specific name.
2. ANEMÒNE, Tourn. Anémone. Wind-flower.
Sepals few or many, petal-like. Petals none, or in n. 1 resembling abortive stamens. Achenes pointed or tailed, flattened, not ribbed. Seed suspended.—Perennial herbs with radical leaves; those of the stem 2 or 3 together, opposite or whorled, and forming an involucre remote from the flower; peduncles 1-flowered, solitary or umbellate. (The ancient Greek and Latin name, from ἀνεμόω, to be shaken by the wind.)
§ 1. PULSATÌLLA. Carpels numerous in a head, with long hairy styles which in fruit form feathery tails, as in Clematis; flower large, usually with some minute or indistinct gland-like abortive stamens answering to petals.
1. A. pàtens, L., var. Nuttalliàna, Gray. (Pasque-flower.) Villous with long silky hairs; peduncle solitary; flower erect, developed before the leaves, which are ternately divided, the lateral divisions 2-parted, the middle one stalked and 3-parted, the segments deeply once or twice cleft into narrowly linear and acute lobes; lobes of the sessile involucre like those of the leaves, at the base all united into a shallow cup; sepals 5–7, purplish or whitish (1–1½´ long), spreading when in full anthesis.—Prairies, Ill. and Mo., thence northward and westward. March–April.—A span high. Tail of carpels 2´ long. (Eu. Siberia.)
§ 2. ANEMÒNE proper. Styles short, not plumose. Staminodia none.
[*] Achenes densely long-woolly, compressed; involucre far below the flower.
[+] Stem single, from a small tuber; sepals 10–20; style filiform.
2. A. Caroliniàna, Walt. Stem 3–6´ high; root-leaves once or twice 3-parted or cleft; involucre 3-parted, its wedge-shaped divisions 3-cleft; sepals 10–20, oblong-linear, purple or whitish; head of fruit oblong.—Ill. to Neb. and southward. May.
[+][+] Stems several; sepals 5–8; style filiform.
3. A. parviflòra, Michx. Stem 3–12´ high from a slender rootstock, 1-flowered; root-leaves 3-parted, their broadly wedge-shaped divisions crenate-incised or lobed; involucre 2–3-leaved; sepals 5 or 6, oval, white; head of fruit globular.—Lake Superior, northward and westward. May, June.
4. A. multífida, DC. Stems from a branching caudex, silky-hairy (6–12´ high); principal involucre 2–3-leaved, bearing one naked and one or two 2-leaved peduncles; leaves of the involucre short-petioled, similar to the root-leaves, twice or thrice 3-parted and cleft, their divisions linear; sepals obtuse, red, sometimes greenish-yellow or whitish; head of fruit spherical or oval.—Rocks, etc., N. E. Maine to Lake Superior, north and westward; rare. June.
[+][+][+] Taller, commonly branching above or producing two or more peduncles; involucral leaves long-petioled; sepals 5–8, silky or downy beneath (4–6´´ long), oval or oblong; style subulate.
5. A. cylíndrica, Gray. (Long-fruited A.) Slender (2° high), silky-pubescent; flowers 2–6, on very long upright naked peduncles; involucral leaves twice or thrice as many as the peduncles, 3-divided; their divisions wedge-lanceolate, the lateral 2-parted, the middle 3-cleft; lobes cut and toothed at the apex; sepals 5, rather obtuse, greenish-white; head of fruit cylindrical (1´ long).—Dry woods, N. Eng. to Mo., and northwestward. May.—Peduncles 7–12´ long, all from the same involucre and naked throughout, or one involucellate in the middle.
6. A. Virginiàna, L. More loosely pubescent or glabrate; involucral leaves 3, 3-parted; their divisions ovate-lanceolate, pointed, cut-serrate, the lateral 2-parted, the middle 3-cleft; peduncles elongated, the earliest naked, the others with a 2-leaved involucel at the middle, repeatedly proliferous; sepals 5, acute, greenish (in one variety white and obtuse); head of fruit oval or oblong.—Woods and meadows; common. June–August.—Plant 2–3° high; the upright peduncles 6–12´ long.
[*][*] Achenes naked, orbicular, compressed, wing-margined; sepals 5, obovate; involucre sessile.
7. A. Pennsylvánica, L. Hairy, rather low; primary involucre 3-leaved, bearing a naked peduncle, and soon a pair of branches or peduncles with a 2-leaved involucre at the middle, which branch similarly in turn; their leaves broadly wedge-shaped, 3-cleft, cut and toothed; radical leaves 5–7-parted or cleft; sepals white (6–9´´ long); head of fruit spherical.—W. New Eng. to Penn., Ill., and