Anemone raddeana ("Azumaichige")

Japanese name: アズマイチゲ （東一華）
Scientific name: Anemone raddeana

[Overview]
A perennial that grows at the edges and on the floor of deciduous broadleaf forests, often forming colonies.
It tends to prefer limestone areas.
The rhizome is swollen and spindle-shaped in places, and spreads by creeping sideways.
Basal leaves arise from the rhizome.
The basal leaves are twice-ternately compound with petioles 4–16 cm long; the leaflets are obovate, 0.7–3.5 cm long and 0.5–3 cm wide, and shallowly 3-lobed.
The basal leaves appear in autumn and the above-ground parts die back in early summer of the following year, making it one of the so-called spring ephemerals.
The flower stem is 10–25 cm tall, and the stem bears leaves in whorls of three.
The stem leaves are divided into 3 to the base, soft and drooping at the tip, with petioles 1–2.5 cm long; the leaflets are 3-lobed with serrate edges or shallowly cut, but never deeply incised.
A single flower is borne at the tip of the stem.
The flowers are about 3–5 cm across and open upward, with 8–13 white, oblong sepals that look like petals; the undersides of the sepals are slightly tinged with bluish purple.
There are many stamens, and the anthers are white.
There are also many pistils.
The fruit is a narrowly ovate achene densely covered with ascending hairs.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by division.
Sow seed fresh, immediately after harvest.
It prefers sun to partial shade and fertile, well-drained, slightly moist soil.
In poor sunlight it flowers poorly.
It dislikes heat and dryness, so keep direct sunlight off the base of the plant.
For potted plants, move them to a cool shaded place from early summer, when the leaves die back, and otherwise keep them in the sun.
It is very cold hardy, but care is needed against freezing.
In the garden, under deciduous trees is suitable.
In the garden, watering is unnecessary unless the soil becomes extremely dry.
For potted plants, water when the soil surface dries so that they do not run short during the growing season.
After dormancy begins, water only to the extent that the soil does not become too dry.
Apply fertilizer placed on the soil once a month, or liquid fertilizer once a week, in spring and autumn.
Pests and diseases include southern blight, anthracnose, gray mold, aphids and slugs.

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