Woodland Trust

Nature's CalendarNature Detectives

Keep your eyes open for ripe blackberries in the woods and hedgerows - record your sightings

Wood anemone. Peter Paicewood anemone

Anemone nemorosa

  • One of the earliest and prettiest of all woodland flowers
     
  • It is a perennial
     
  • Leaves spring from the base
     
  • Sometimes forms a carpet in woods
     
  • Flowers are usually white, but sometimes pinkish.
     

Where foundrecord

Woods, hedgerows and upland meadows.
 

When to look for

  • Flowers in March-May

Did you know?

  • The scent of wood anemones is not as attractive as their appearance - they are also known as 'smell fox' because of the musky aroma of their leaves.

  • Most of the year the plant is hidden from view. It has no foliage, and looks just like a lumpy root (known as a 'rhizome') in the soil. Then at the end of February it bursts into life, sending up deeply lobed leaves, and flowering until May.

  • The Ancient Greeks believed the wood anemone was a gift from the wind god Anemos (or Eurus), sent to herald his coming in spring.