Anemone L.

Overview

Anemone belongs to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae; Kew gives its native range as temperate and subtropical regions. Flora of Somalia gives some 60–70 species (excluding Hepatica and Pulsatilla), almost cosmopolitan and especially north temperate; WCVP also keeps those two genera apart, and the species it accepts are listed below.

The florist’s anemone is the poppy anemone, Anemone coronaria, which WCVP records as native around the Mediterranean, from Portugal and Spain to Türkiye, the Caucasus and Iran. The RHS calls it one of the most popular Mediterranean anemones, with bright flowers and dark centres on stems up to 40 cm; its De Caen Group, with showy blooms on long clear stems, is often grown for cutting.

Classification and characters

Linnaeus published the genus in Species Plantarum in 1753. Flora of Somalia and Flora of Tropical East Africa describe perennial herbs with lobed or dissected basal leaves; the flowering stem usually carries a whorl of three involucral leaves; the flowers are regular, usually solitary, with five to many petal-like sepals and no petals; stamens are numerous, the outer ones sometimes sterile; and the many one-ovuled carpels ripen into achenes with persistent styles. The bright “petals” of an anemone are therefore sepals.

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 181 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 2 more.

Introduced

New Zealand SouthRéunion

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 113 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-24.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

• 

  Anemone coronaria

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 841 · 1805
  Sydenham Edwards
• 

  Anemone palmata lutea

  The Botanical Cabinet · 1660 · 1831
  George Loddiges
• 

  Anemone coronaria

  Favourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse · Pl. 3 · 1896
  
• 

  Anemone hortensis

  Favourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse · 4 · 1896
  

Growing and cut-flower handling

The RHS advises planting Mediterranean anemones such as the De Caen and St Brigid Groups outdoors in spring; soak dry rhizomes or tubers for several hours or overnight first to rehydrate them and start growth.

Floralife advises harvesting when the buds are fully coloured and 25–50% open, and buying strong stems with flowers closed or just opening. Store at 1–3 °C and 75–85% relative humidity; vase life is 3–8 days. Anemones are highly ethylene-sensitive and, untreated, shatter their petals and last less long; the flowers close naturally in cold and dark. Stems tend to bend, so upright shipping helps; avoid softened water.

Further reading

• Flower guide
• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-24
2. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Anemone, with genus descriptions from Flora of Somalia and Flora of Tropical East Africa
3. RHS · How to grow spring-flowering anemones
4. Floralife · Anemone care and handling