Syn.: Anemone apennina subsp. blanda (Schott et Kotschy) Hayek, Anemonoides blanda (Schott et Kotschy) Holub
Family: Ranunculaceae Juss.
Distribution: Native in the Balkans and southwestern Asia – from Albania, Greece and Bulgaria to Turkey, Caucasus and Lebanon.
Ecology: It grows on rocky slopes, in scrub and forest margins. It blooms from March to April.
Description: Perennial herb with a tuberous rhizome. Flowering stems 5–30 cm tall, erect, simple. Basal leaves 1 or 2, 3-partite, the divisions more or less obtuse, and again deeply lobed, glabrous beneath, cauline leaves all petiolate, 2-ternate. Perianth-segments 14–18, narrowly oblong-elliptical, blue or white, glabrous. The fruits are achenes.
Use: The Balkan Anemone is cultivated elsewhere for ornament, and occasionally naturalized.
Threat and protection: The species is listed in the Red Book of Russia.
These images were taken in Greece, the Peloponnese, Kyllini and Klokos (by Pavel Sekerka: spring 2004), and Czechia, Prague, garden (by Lubomír Rak: April 2, 2004)
