Anemonastrum flaccidum

Anemonastrum flaccidum, the soft or flaccid windflower (basionym Anemone flaccida), is a perennial herb of the family Ranunculaceae found in damp montane woodland and shaded meadows across East Asia, including China, Japan, Korea and the Russian Far East. It spreads by slender horizontal rhizomes and often forms colonies. The basal leaves are long-stalked and palmately divided into three to five toothed, lobed segments with a thin, soft texture. Slender flowering stems rise to about 15 to 40 centimetres, bearing a whorl of three stalked leaf-like bracts below an open cluster of usually two to three flowers. Each flower has five (sometimes more) white, petal-like sepals surrounding numerous yellow stamens and a cluster of green carpels; true petals are absent. The fruits are small flattened achenes tipped by a short beak. The thickened underground rhizome is the part valued in traditional Chinese medicine.