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Water avens

 

 

It grows in moist meadows and forests, in a corner of the garden, sometimes in the shadow under the stairs outside and has pretty bell-like flowers – the water avens. The stem that is covered with downy soft hairs, the nodding head and the tiny leaves make a gentle impression. At a superficial glance water avens can be confused with the early spring flowerer the small pasque flower or meadow anemone (Pulsatilla pratensis).

 

In mid-summer when the flowering has ended the stalks of the plant straighten up because the time to spread the seeds has arrived. Mainly animals help to do this but also humans, by carrying the seeds into new places to grow. The wind is not a particularly important assistant in spreading it.