Wildflower Wednesday: Enemion biternatum

Welcome to  Clay and Limestone and the Wildflower Wednesday celebration of a sweet little spring ephemeral wildflower.

Enemion biternatum is lovely with delicate columbine like leaves and small white flowers. Small bees collect the pollen  and flies feed on it, but, they would search fruitlessly for nectar. It hasn't any nectaries.

It's been growing under an oak tree in my garden since before I moved here (that would be almost 40 years ago). The foliage appears in late winter, carpeting the ground, then the flowers open and the first of the  pollinators visit to  pollinate. It dies back in mid-summer making it a true spring ephemeral.

It's also growing in my little pocket wildflower garden under the Ostrya virginiana, which is a lovely understory and underappreciated native tree. Dutchman's Breeches was already growing there and I transplanted Trillium from the way back woodland. I also added toothwort and Spring Beauties that I transplanted from the now disappeared front lawn. Phacelia bipinnatifida, a delightful lilac flowering biennial was added after a friend gave me seedlings. Their dormant roots are sheltered by a large Carya ovata/shag bark hickory during the hot summer months, but, they magically reappear each spring.

Eastern False Rue-anemone, False Rue Anemone or Enemion biternatum is a sweet little Spring ephemeral in the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). It's native to shady rich or calcereous woods & thickets; floodplain woods and limestone ledges (slightly alkaline soil) and is native to Middle Tennessee. The delicate looking foliage of False Rue Anemone emerges in late winter and makes a beautiful leafy mat that grows about 6 inches high. The flowers, scattered here and there,  emerge as the days warm and the bloom period is at least a month long. It would make a lovely ground cover, but, like all Spring ephemerals, grows, blooms, gets pollinated, sets seed in a short period of time before it fades and retreats back underground.

The white flowers occur individually or in groups of 2-3. The flower is small only about ¾" across, and has 5 petal-like sepals that are white, no petals, several slender stamens with yellow anthers, and a few green pistils in the center. The blooming period occurs during mid-spring and lasts about 3 weeks and if weather isn't too warm there may be flowers for a month.

Source

The pistils are replaced by beaked follicles (seedpods that split open along one side) that individually contain several seeds. You'll have to get down on all fours to see them, but, that's often the best view in a wildflower garden.

The lovely five 'petaled' (sepals) flowers with the showy yellow center stamens would look wonderful planted with Mertensia virginica, Thalictrum thalictroides, Trillium grandiflorum, Trillium cuneatum, Polemonium reptans, Phloxes, Geranium maculatum,  Phacelia bipinnatifida, Euonymus americanus, Philadelphus inodorus and Aesculus pavia. Plant them in rich loamy soil with full to partial sun and before long you'll have a small colony.

xoxogail



The particulars 

Common Name: false rue anemone  

Family: Ranunculaceae

AKA: Isopyrum biternatum

Type: Herbaceous perennial, Ephemeral

Native Range:

 Zone: 3 to 8 

Height: 0.50 to 0.75 feet 

Spread: 0.25 to 0.50 feet 

Bloom Time: March to April 

Bloom: White 

Sun: Part shade 

Water: Medium, rich soil helps

Maintenance: Low 

 

Flower: Showy. Anemone-like flowers (to 1/2" diameter) with 5 petal-like sepals and showy yellow center stamens

Foliage: Columbine like leaves

Habitat: open wooded slopes, river flood plains, rich woods and thickets. Colonizes

Wildlife value: Bees collect pollen, while fly visitors feed on pollen. Various beetles also feed on the pollen. Some of these insects probably search in vain for nectar, as the flowers lack nectaries. 

Comments: My favorite is from Missouri Department of Conservation: "This flower is often confused with (true) rue anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides. That species, however, has only bracts on the flowering stems (not complete leaves); it often has more than 5 sepals, which are sometimes pinkish; it is usually only found singly; and it prefers wooded slopes to moist bottomlands. False rue anemone and "true" rue anemone present a bit of difficulty for the budding naturalist, but meeting the challenge of learning how to identify the two similar plants helps us understand botany, and our world, better. Most members of this family are toxic, so be careful and don't eat it.

 

Wildflower Wednesday is about sharing wildflowers from your part of the world. Don't worry if you have nothing in bloom, you can still showcase one of your favorites. It doesn't matter if we sometimes show the same plants; how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. I hope you join the celebration...It's always the fourth Wednesd

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Botany Vocabulary Word of the Day

Ephemeral: short lived

Cardamine concatenata

Spring in Middle Tennessee might be its best season. Beautiful ephemeral wildflowers begin emerging from the leaf litter in February. Trillium, Spring beauty, Toothworts, False Rue anemone, Rue anemone, Dutchman's Breeches, Troutlily, Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), Virginia Bluebells and Hepatica are a few of the ephemerals that can be seen in nearby parks and woodlands.

Found throughout the eastern United States and Canada, spring ephemerals thrive on the floor of rich, undisturbed woodlands. They are also very happy in the right garden setting. Most plants are available from brick and mortar native plant nurseries and the internet, so please don't dig them from woodlands, leave them for other critters to enjoy.

The solitary bee, Andrena erigeniae  specializes on Spring Beauties/Claytonia virginica

These remarkable and fragile beauties emerge early each spring, taking advantage of the rich, moist soil and full sunlight streaming through the bare branches of the deciduous trees. In the short period of time before the tree canopy emerges and blocks the sunlight they must grow, leaf-out, flower, be pollinated and produce seeds. This is called the epigeous or above ground growth phase. Once they fade they enter the hypogeous, or below ground growth phase when roots and buds are busy developing.

Freezes and frosts don't faze them. They grow very low to the sun warmed soil and some, even have hairy leaves/stems or leaves that wrap around the emerging buds, trapping warm air that keeps them from freezing.

 Enemion biternatum/False Rue anemone

They're a vital food source for pollinators at a time when there is little food available. Honeybees, bumbles, carpenter bees, flies and beetles seek out their pollen and/or nectar and ants feed on the elaiosome that surrounds some seeds. Their thick, fleshy, nutrient and carbohydrate rich corms, roots and tubers are especially attractive to white footed mice, chipmunks and voles.

So get out there and enjoy them while you can! It's already getting warm in Nashville and they'll be retreating underground before you know it.

xoxogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: False Rue Anemone

My little pocket wildflower garden is waking up!

It was my first wildflower garden. The False Rue Anemone and Dutchman's Breeches were already growing there and I transplanted Trillium from the way back woodland and Toothwort and Spring Beauties from the now disappeared front lawn. Their dormant roots are sheltered by The Dancing Tree and a large Shag Bark Hickory during the hot summer months, but, they magically reappear each spring.

Eastern False Rue-anemone, False Rue Anemone or Enemion biternatum is a sweet little Spring ephemeral in the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). It's native to shady rich or calcereous woods & thickets; floodplain woods and limestone ledges. (slightly alkaline soil) and is native to Middle Tennessee.

it's easily overrun by invasives like garlic mustard, bush honeysuckle and wintercreeper

The delicate looking foliage of False Rue Anemone emerges in late winter and makes a beautiful leafy mat that grows about 6 inches high. The flowers, scattered here and there,  emerge as the days warm and the bloom period is at least a month long. It would make a lovely ground cover, but, like all Spring ephemerals, grows, blooms, gets fertilized, sets seed in a short period of time before it fades and retreats back underground.

False Rue Anemone only produces pollen

False Rue Anemone is pollinated by small bees and flies that visit it for its pollen.

The lovely five 'petaled' (sepals) flowers with the showy yellow center stamens would look wonderful planted with Mertensia virginica, Thalictrum thalictroides, Trillium grandiflorum, Trillium cuneatum, Polemonium reptans, Phloxes, Geranium maculatum,  Euonymus americanus, Philadelphus inodorus and Aesculus pavia.

If you can grow this cutie in your garden do, I promise that you will love it.  It's available from several reputable online nurseries and locally from GroWild Nursery.

xoxogail

The particulars

Plant type Perennial, Deciduous, True ephemeral (summer dormancy)    
Flowering Period: Early Spring, Mid-Spring
Flower Color: White         
Sun/Shade Conditions: Filtered Shade, Partial Shade
Soil Moisture: Average, Moist, can handle some flooding
Soil pH: Adaptable, Alkaline
Soil Type: Loam, Clay, Humus-rich

Native

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's wildflower celebration. Wildflower Wednesday is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky.



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Collinsia verna, Where Are You?

I've looked everywhere for you, crawling on hands and knees through the wet clay, pulling back the leaf mulch, hoping to see the small seedlings that have always greeted me in February.

 You are nowhere to be found!

Collinsia verna  is a winter annual that can be found growing in rich deciduous woodlands 

Blue-Eyed Mary is a native winter annual that blooms in the Spring, sets seed in the summer, germinates in the fall and then starts growing in February.  

I love it and have my fingers crossed in hope that it's better at hiding than I am at searching.

~Although, the Blue-Eyed Mary was a no-show I did see

False Rue Anemone (Enemion biternatum ), always one of the first Spring ephemerals to bloom.

Early blooming daffodils.

Tommies!

An array of beautiful Hellebores.

Aren't they worth mucking about in the mud!

A few  Dandelions for the earliest  visiting honeybees.

Hamamelis 'Diane' holding court in the understory, and 

Slippery Elm glowing above it all.

~~~~~

Really, not bad for a chilly few days in the garden...

xoxogail

I am several days late for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, but don't let that keep you from popping over to May Dreams Gardens to see what Carol is up to...

 Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Clay and Limestone's Season Openers

The season is starting to heat up and the earliest of the native plants are blooming.

Dentaria laciniata/Cardamine concatenata, also known as Cutleaf Toothwort is our opening act.  It's one of my favorite of the Spring Ephemerals that grace this garden starting in late February.

 Like many early blooming spring wildflowers this one is low to the ground (and you can count on getting dirty knees trying to take a decent photo).  While you're crawling around you might notice their sweet fragrance.  It's especially noticeable on sunny warm days.  The pollinators appreciate their scent; look for honey bees, bumblebees, Mason bees, Cuckoo bees, Miner bees, Halictid bees, and Andrenid bees which are attracted to its nectar.

My favorite Toothwort photo from a past season

This is a common plant in Middle Tennessee and if you have one plant, you will soon have more. It spreads by rhizome and seed. But, don't be afraid, it's an ephemeral and will disappear after setting seed.

Claytonia virginica is also in bloom all over the neighborhood.  It blankets neighboring lawns for almost a month and makes me green with envy!  I am working hard to add this pretty to the garden and I am happy to say~it's working.  It prefers dappled sunlight with rich loamy soil.  

It looks fantastic in lawns and if you can delay mowing and let it go to seed you won't ever be sorry.

False Rue Anemone

The anemones are also opening.  Enemion biternatum blooms first and produces a beautiful leafy mat with a few scattered flowers and prefers partial sun, slightly moist, rich loamy soil with abundant leaf mould.

Such a pretty face.  You can totally understand why I don't mind crawling around on the ground to see them!

xxoogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Clay and Limestone's Spring Ephemerals

Neither rain, nor cold, or even more rain, can stop the delightful harbingers of springtime that are blooming all over Clay and Limestone. The delicate white or pinkish flowers of ephemerals bloom early in spring, set seed, then disappear until the next spring. I love them all~But, please, don't ask me to choose which one is my favorite. No way, not now, not ever, would I be able to choose.

Could you?

Claytonia virginica or Spring Beauty

Would you choose the candy striped Spring Beauty? Claytonia virginica's flowers are about the size of a dime with five petals that spread wide as the sun warms them. From a distance, the flowers appear white, but, each petal is suffused with a delicate network of pastel pink veins. Those pink veins are nectar guides. Spring Beauties are pollinated by over 100 species of insects. That's a lot of bees, flies and other winged creatures relying on nectar and pollen. That makes them an important early food source.

Hepatica acutiloba or Sharp lobed hepatica

Does your taste run to hepaticas? Another, small and delightful white flower that leans toward pink. It appears to emerge leafless from the soil, but, if you look closely you'll see last summer's deep purple brown, heart shaped leaf nearby. Be careful when you're cleaning them up each fall~those leaves are an important food source for the plant all winter. Small bees collect pollen, while Syrphid flies and other flies feed on the pollen. Bee visitors include honeybees, Small Carpenter bees, Andrenid bees, and Halictid bees.

Dentaria laciniata or Cut-leaved toothwort

Perhaps, you would choose the perfumed flowers of Cut-leaved toothwort! This is a common plant in Middle Tennessee, but that would never detract from its charm. If you have one plant, you will soon have more. It spreads by rhizome and seed~But, don't be afraid...It's an ephemeral and will disappear after setting seed. Look for honey bees, bumblebees, Mason bees, Cuckoo bees, Miner bees, Halictid bees, and Andrenid bees.

Isopyrum/Enemion biternatum or False rue anemone

False rue anemone is a lovely ground cover with columbine like leaves and the sweetest delicate white flower that is often confused with Rue anemones ( Thalictrum thalictroides). This is another little spring flower that makes pollen, but, no nectar. Small bees and flies visit to collect or feed on the pollen.

Erigenia bulbosa or Harbinger-of-Spring

Harbinger-of-Spring is the earliest and smallest of the spring flowers to bloom in my garden. The pure white flowers and chocolate colored anthers contrast beautifully and, are surely, the reason for one of the common names, "Pepper and Salt". Little Carpenter bees, Mason bees, and flower flies visit for nectar. It grows in rich moist woodlands.

What do you think is emerging!

So, tell me my friends~Could you choose a favorite among these pretties?

xxoogail

This post was written by Gail Eichelberger for my blog Clay and Limestone Copyright 2011.This work protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.