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Japanese Anemone
Anemone Japonica.
THE white anemone represented in the plate is variously known as the vine-leaved, or Anemone vilifolia, and by a name that brings it nearer to us, as Honorine Jobert. It should be understood at the outset that it is the white form of Anemone Japonica, of which we have a purplish-red form that is regarded as the specific type. As a matter of fact, we know not which of the two should be regarded as the specific type; nor does it matter. If we ask the evolutionists to help us, they will be bound to say that the white is the original, the "real Simon Pure."
The vine-leaved anemone is a different plant, not so good as the one before us, but a near relative, and in all probability a form of it, thus making excuse for the confusion that has arisen as to their supposed identity. Anemone vitifolia is a native of Nepal, in the shady valleys of which it is plentiful, and though not equal to our present subject as a garden flower, it is a delicate beauty, flowering earlier than the Japanese plant, and being less in size and less pure in its whiteness; it is, in fact, tinged with purple, red, or bronze, as influenced by soil and various degrees of exposure. This plant is figured in the Botanical Magazine (t.3,376), from plants grown by Mr. Don, at Knyppersley Gardens, Congleton; but we owe the introduction of A. vitifolia to Dr. Wallich, who may be styled the father of Indian botany. In describing it he says: "It grows in all the forests of the great valley and the surrounding mountains, delighting in the most shady, retired, and moist situations in the vicinity of rills and torrents." The figure in the Botanical Register (t. 1,385) shows a larger flower and stouter growth than the B. M. figure, and will justify our regarding the vine-leaved anemone as the Nepal form of our Anemone Japonica.
To Siebold's "Flora Japonica" we are indebted for the first description of this anemone, but to our own Robert Fortune for the plant itself. It was figured in the Botanical Magazine, in 1847 (t. 4,341), by Mr. W. H. Fitch, the red form alone being then known, and the figure showing it in higher colour than we have ever seen in the flower itself, although familiar with it from its first introduction. Sir W. J. Hooker, in describing it, said: "I cannot but fear that what have been transmitted to our gardens exhibit strong marks of the flowers being double, which may account for the fact mentioned by Siebold of the seeds rarely coming to perfection." The "fear" entertained by the celebrated botanist it has been our fortune (or misfortune) to have realised, for a few years since, when botanising in North Wales with Mr. Alfred Slocombe, we met with Anemone Japonica in a garden at Conway in a completely double state. We must add that, having lost their central cluster of golden stamens, the double flowers were less beautiful than the single or semi-double examples common to our gardens.
The red form, then, was the one originally introduced. But the vine-leaved anemone, an older plant, served well as a complement to it, and but for an accident might by this time have acquired popularity as its proper companion in the hardy garden. The accident was the appearance in the garden of M. Jobert, at Verdun-sur-Meuse, as the product of the red-flowered anemone, of this lovely white form, which, in commemoration of its origin, was named Honorine Jobert. It is now, we hope, made evident to the reader that the name last cited is admissible for literary purposes, while the name often adopted for our subject, Anemone vitifolia, is inadmissible, because it represents the Nepal, and not the Japanese, form of the anemone. We have thus justified our head-line, this "autumnal white lily," as it has been playfully designated, being the white-flowering, and probably primal, form of Anemone Japonica, which "righted itself" by sporting from the red form in M. Jobert's garden. The reader will not ask about the sowing of the seeds, because the story tells of the rarity of their ripening in this country, which Sir William Hooker unwisely attributed to the tendency of the red form to doubling. It must be understood that to obtain seeds is not a matter of routine, and for all ordinary purposes it may be said that the plant does not produce seeds. However, that is of small consequence, because to divide the plants is an easy matter, and, moreover, every bit of the root will make a plant with skilful management.
The words of Wallich on the growth of the Nepal plant give the key to the cultivation of this beauty from Japan. It loves partial shade and moisture. For hot, dry, starving situations it is not well adapted; but, putting aside all extreme conditions, we may safely say that the Japanese anemone will grow anywhere.