With the sun out, the Wood Anemone open up tiny blossoms instead of being tear drop shape on cloudy days. The small white specks stands out against the green mat of foliage, but with an oak leaf in the foreground, you can tell the wood anemone are not a big showy flower.

Little Wood Anemones

Another chilly day has slowed down the wildflowers and the sun didn’t poke out long enough for blossoms of the wood anemone to open. Maybe tomorrow will be sunny and warmer as a single plant can take five years or more to flower.

Wood Anemone Waiting to Open

The deer in my woods seem to like white flowers as I cannot find a great white trillium blossom left but only the chewed off stems. And the deer even ate the white blooms of the bloodroots, although I did find some white Wood Anemones flowers which tend to grow in thick mats. A single plant may take five years or more to blossom so hopefully since they are low to the ground, maybe the deer will skip these little wildflowers.

Wood Anemones

Even though it is just barely above freezing this morning, the precipitation falling right now is snow so the white seen on the ground maybe snow or the little Wood Anemones. The plant tends to grow in thick mats, spreading via rhizomes and a single plant can take five years or longer to bloom. When the sun is out, the blossoms will open up wide like a rounded pointed star, but with the lack of sun, they close up tight.

Other White Besides Snow

Over a blanket green, dainty white flowers extend upward on slender stems and tremble in the breeze and therefore is sometimes called Wind Flowers, although the more common name is Wood Anemone for Anemone quinquefolia.

The flowers usually stay open during the day but close during the night to protect the male and female parts of the flower while it is not being pollinated and since I was out late evening, the flowers were closing up but that allowed me to see the pinkish color on the outer layer. Wood Anemone tends to grow in thick mats, spreading via rhizomes. A single plant may take 5 years or longer to flower, so often only a few flowers are seen among the leaves.

Wood Anemone

This flower needs the sun as much as I do and will expand wide in the sun but as evening draws near or if rain threatens, the Wood Anemone will close and droop it head so that no dew will injure it. The blossom has no true petals but has sepals instead and it is the sepals that fold over the mass of stamens and undeveloped seed vessels in the center like a tent. When closed, the pale rose colored underside of the sepals are seen, otherwise in the sun, the white upper side dance in the wind.

The Wood Anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) is often overlooked since it is a small blossom in the low bed of green leaves. It is not flashy or colorful and even the insects ignore it has little scent or nectar to attract them.

Wood Anemone