Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Notes: Eloise Butler introduced Pasque Flower to the Garden, first in 1910 on March 25th when she transplanted two plants from Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis. She planted more in 1912, '13, '14,, '17, '18, '19 and '20. Martha Crone planted many times - 1933, '34, '35, '36, '39, '42, '44, '45, '46, '47, '49, and '50. This Pasque Flower species is found in North America from the Great Lakes states westward into the Rocky Mountains, reaching south to Texas and New Mexico in the central plains, and in Canada from Ontario westward to the Pacific coast. Within Minnesota it has been found in most counties except those of the NE quadrant and a few near the Iowa border. The accepted scientific name of the variety in Minnesota (by both the MN DNR and the U of M Herbarium) is Anemone patens L. var. multifida Pritz. There are a number of name synonyms which refer to the same basic plant.

Toxicity: The foliage contains a chemical, Anemonin, that is poisonous and the leaves, when bruised and applied to skin, raise blisters. Anemonin is a powerful irritant which in large amounts causes violent gastroenteritis. A drug obtained from the plant, known as Pulsatilla, has been used in herbal treatments but is considered dangerous. A tincture of Pulsatilla has been used for disorders of mucous membranes, respiratory and digestive passages. Densmore (Ref. #5) lists the plant as being used for lung trouble. The root, mixed with that of Stiff Goldenrod was pulverized and a decoction was made and taken internally. The leaves were dried and pulverized and then "smelled" to relieve headache. Pasque Flower was for some years included in the British and the U.S. Pharmacopoeias. Pulsatilla contains the Anemonin, which acts as a depressant on the circulatory and respiratory systems. An excess amount results in paralysis and death.

Eloise Butler's notes: "However early Easter Sunday is in the calendar, the bells of the Pasque flower proclaim the yearly miracle. Or, to change the metaphor, nearly four weeks ago, on sandy, southern slopes of the virgin prairie, the “goslings,” as children call them, thrust their downy heads above the brown, bare earth, undismayed by succeeding snows and frosts, all the way from Wisconsin to the Rockies. In exposed situations they lie huddled on the ground; but, under the stimulus of increasing warmth, they will peep out from the stretch above the brooding mother earth, from day to day, throughout the month of April.

The scientific name of the Pasque Flower, according to the seventh edition of Gray’s botany, is Anemone patens var. wolfgangiana. It is called a variety because the Pasque flower of Europe was first named. None but a botanist would note the difference between the European and American forms. Britton calls the plant Pulsatilla hirsutissima. Under this name it is known to pharmacists, for it has medicinal properties. The leaves when bruised exhale a pungent odor, which has given rise to other popular names, as hartshorn and headache plant." [ED. Note: All the old scientific names given are now considered as synonyms of the current species] Published in the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune April 16, 1911 Full article

John Muir wrote: "The most admirable flower in the estimation of settlers in this part of the new world was the pasque-flower or wind-flower. It is the very first to appear in the spring, covering the cold gray-black ground with cheery blossoms. Before the axe or plough had touched the “oak openings” of Wisconsin, they were swept by running fires almost every autumn after the grass became dry. If from any cause, such as early snowstorms or late rains, they happened to escape the autumn fire besom, they were likely to be burned in the spring after the snow melted. But whether burned in spring or fall, ashes and bits of charred twigs and grass stems made the whole country look dismal.

Then, before a single grass-blade had sprouted, a hopeful multitude of large hairy, silky buds about as thick as one’s thumb came to light, pushing up through the black and gray ashes and cinders, and before these buds were fairly free from the ground they opened wide and displayed purple blossoms about two inches in diameter, giving beauty for ashes in glorious abundance. Instead of remaining in the ground waiting for warm weather and companions, this admirable plant seemed to be in haste to rise and cheer the desolate landscape. Then at its leisure, after other plants had come to its help, it spread its leaves and grew up to a height of about two or three feet. The spreading leaves formed a whorl on the ground, and another about the middle of the stem as an involucre, and on the top of the stem the silky, hairy long-tailed seeds formed a head like a second flower.

A little church was established among the earlier settlers and the meetings at first were held in our house. After working hard all the week it was difficult for boys to sit still through long sermons without falling asleep, especially in warm weather. In this drowsy trouble the charming anemone came to our help. A pocketful of the pungent seeds industriously nibbled while the discourses were at their dullest kept us awake and filled our minds with flowers." from The Story of my Boyhood and Youth