About Anemone drummondii S.Watson
Anemone drummondii S.Watson is a squat perennial wildflower. When it is flowering, it produces short erect stems and small, soft, wrinkled leaves. At this early flowering stage, leaf color ranges from medium green to dark red, varying by growth stage and sun exposure. After flowering finishes, the leaves expand fully into a multiply ternate dissected shape. Their ultimate segments measure a few millimeters wide and are oblong to linear, and mature leaves range from medium green to gray green in color. Each clumping plant grows several showy flowers. Each flower has five to eight petal-like sepals and no true petals. Sepals are most often white, occasionally bright blue to purplish blue, and typically carry a distinct blue tint, most prominent on the underside. The center of the flower is filled with many stamens that have yellow anthers. Its fruits are woolly achenes. Anemone drummondii is native to western North America, ranging from California north to Alaska. It grows in mountain habitats including the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Rocky Mountains, where it occurs from open coniferous forests up to rocky slopes at alpine elevations. In the Wenatchee Mountains of Washington State, the species is notable for its tolerance of rocky serpentine soils; in some locations it is the dominant species growing on steep serpentine slopes.
