pliable no blast can break it; its pretty leaves whorled where
they form a background to set off the fragile beauty of the
solitary flower above them; a corolla economically dispensed
with, since the white sepals are made to do the advertising for
insects; the slightly nodding attitude of the blossom in cloudy
weather, that the stigmas may be in the line of the fall of
pollen jarred out by the wind in case visitors seeking pollen
fail to bring any from other anemones - all these features teach
that every plant is what it is for excellent reasons of its own;
that it is a sentient being, not to be admired for superficial
beauty merely, but also for those same traits which operate in
the human race, making it the most interesting of studies.

Note the clusters of tuberous dahlia-like roots, the whorl of
thin three-lobed rounded leaflets on long, fine petioles
immediately below the smaller pure white or pinkish flowers
usually growing in loose clusters, to distinguish the more common
RUE-ANEMONE (Syndesmon thalictroides - Thalictrum anemonoides of
Gray) from its cousin the solitary flowered wood or true anemone.
Generally there are three blossoms of the rue-anemone to a
cluster, the central one opening first, the side ones only after
it has developed its stamens and pistils to prolong the season of
bloom and encourage cross-pollination by insects. In the eastern
half of the United States, and less abundantly in Canada, these
are among the most familiar spring wild flowers. Pick them and
they soon wilt miserably; lift the plants early, with a good ball
of soil about the roots, and they will unfold their fragile
blossoms indoors, bringing with them something of the unspeakable
charm of their native woods and hillsides just waking into life.