The history of the Anemone, the unrequited love of Aphrodite, and what the heck is an achene.

Anemone blanda portrait against a black background — *Anemone blanda, April 6th*

An uncanny number of Greek legends involve flowers springing forth from leaking mammals. It seems, according to the ancients, that if some celestial vertebrate or other oozed so much as a drop onto terra firma, a new garden specimen would burst into being. Thus far we’ve seen Aconite emerge from hound slobber, Iris spring up from sweaty toes, and Hyacinth erupt from the tragic sanguine spillings of Apollo’s lover. Today, the Anemone.

*The Death of Adonis, drawing, Johann König, 1625*

Anemone blanda, commonly called the Grecian windflower, is a spreading, tuberous-rooted perennial native to southeastern Europe. According to mythology, Ares (unrequited lover of Aphrodite) watched his love ride into the forrest after Adonis, became enraged, and morphed into a boar, attacking Adonis with jealous rage. Aphrodite raced to save Adonis, dressing his wounds with nectar, but she was too late. Every spot where Adonis blood or nectar fell, crimson anemones sprouted. For this reason, anemones came to represent undying love.

The sentiment was adopted by the Christian church. The red anemone, said to have grown on Calvary at the site of the crucifixion, symbolized blood that Christ shed while on the cross. The flowers became associated with the sorrow of Mary, and afterwards in general with the notions of death and worry. There are references earlier in the Bible as well, such as during the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus mentions “the lilies of the fields” (Matthew Chapter 6 Verse 28). He is almost certainly not speaking of Liliaceae, which are rare in that part of the world. It is generally thought that the reference is to the Anemone coronaria, or crown anemone, which still grow in the wild near the Lake of Galilee.

Close up strawberry, with achenes — *The achenes of a strawberry*

The genus name is believed to be derived from the Greek ‘anemos’ meaning wind, although the plant itself, prefers a bit of shelter. The achenes of the anemone, however, love the breeze and utilize lofty currents to disperse the plant’s successors. ‘Hold on’ you say, ‘I’ve never heard of an achene!’ Probably true, but no doubt you’ve eaten one. An achene is a small, dry one-seeded fruit. It is pronounced with a hard ‘k’ sound (as in accommodate) rather than the digraphical ‘tj’ sound (as in achoo). The winner of the most ignored achene is likely those of the strawberry: the little brownish bits that cover the large red bit. The juicy part of the strawberry is actually an accessory fruit, not the fruit itself. Those tiny nibs that get caught in your teeth, that’s the fruit. Other achene bearing plants include the buttercup, buckwheat, caraway, quinoa, and amaranth. The helicopter like maple seed is, in fact, a winged achene.

The epithet blanda means mild, pleasing or charming, and the plants are indeed very much so. Plants typically grow to only 4-8” tall and feature attractive daisy-like, dark blue or white flowers. Like the iris, they tolerate the formidable black walnut. They are low maintenance, bloom early (April here), and naturalize with whimsy in part to full shade.

There are other species of anemones too and they more or less fall into one of three groups: spring bloomers (like the blanda), summer bloomers (such as Anemone coronaria), and late summer and fall bloomers like the Chinese anemone, or Anemone hupehensis.