Desert anemone (Anemone tuberosa) is in the Buttercup Family. Buttercups are the genus Ranuculus and the family name is Ranunculaceae. It’s probably just me, but that is a marvelous name to write and pronounce. Kearney and Peebles’ Arizona Flora lists three species of Anemone , but the taxonomy has changed (a lot!) and there are now two species listed for Arizona. Desert anemone is one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the spring and to see it you’ll need to head to a rocky slope or canyon sometime in February and that’s where you’ll find it hiding among the rocks. It has a short bloom period, so don’t tarry! Oh, and on our hike in the hills above Fort Bowie National Monument we also saw pointleaf manzanita blooming, ’cause it’s an early bloomer too. Whoa, now you have two good reason to head for the hills!
The featured photo is from the SEINet site and taken by Max Licher. Thank you, Max. The photo with the hand is mine…I tend to stick my hand in flower photos for some scale. By the way, look at those rocks. Limestone!
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