For Your Garden - May 2014

Have you been meaning to add a few native plants to your garden? Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.

false rue anemone (Enemion biternatum)
Photo © River Valley Photographic Resources, Ltd., rvprltd.com

False rue anemone grows in woodlands throughout Illinois. Leaves are produced at the base of the plant and as compound leaves on stalks. The compound leaves have three leaflets. Flowers are produced from March through May. Each flower has five white sepals. There are no petals. Flowers are produced individually and in clusters of two or three. The plant may grow to about one foot in height. This plant is a member of the buttercup family.

Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae