Pulsatilla pratensis

Pulsatilla pratensis, the small pasqueflower or meadow anemone, is a low-growing perennial herb in the Ranunculaceae family native to dry meadows, sandy heaths and open pine woodland across central and eastern Europe, ranging from south-eastern Norway and western Denmark south and east to Bulgaria. Plants form a tufted clump 8 to 30 centimetres tall, developing from a stout taproot a basal rosette of finely two- to three-pinnately divided, thread-like leaves densely clothed in long silky silvery hairs. In early to mid-spring (often before the new leaves expand) silky pubescent stems carry solitary, nodding, bell-shaped flowers 2 to 3 centimetres long, with six tepals coloured from rich dark purple in northern populations to dusky greenish-violet or pale violet southward. The flowers are succeeded by spherical heads of long-tailed, plumose achenes that catch the wind. The whole plant contains the acrid alkaloid protoanemonin, rendering fresh material toxic.