Erect stems 8–32-inches tall with white flowers spread by rhizomes to produce dense colonies in moist soils. Look for the whorl of leaf-like bracts midway up the stem (peduncle) beneath the flower.

FLOWER: May–August. White, 1–1 1/2-inch wide on a hairy stem  with 5 oval, petal-like sepals and 80–100 showy stamens with yellow anthers. Seeds develop with spiky wings embedded in a rounded head.

LEAVES: 1–5 basal leaves on 4–8-inch long stems (petioles), blades 1 1/2–4-inches (4–10 cm) wide by 2–6-inches (5–15 cm) long, rounded and deeply palmately divided into 3 primary lobes, each lobe then divided into 2–3 secondary lobes. The flowering stem produces 1–2 whorls of leaf-like bracts that radiate around the stem, the broad lobes 1–4-inches (3–10 cm) wide with 3 points and toothed margins, and similar to the basal leaves.

HABITAT: Wet, moist, sandy, gravelly soils of meadows, marshes, springs, stream sides, ditches.

ELEVATION: 6,500–8,750 feet.

RANGE: CO, MT, NM, WY, ne to MA; Canada.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Five Anemone species in NM: Candle Anemone, A. cylindrica, in much the same range and habitat, has 3/4-inch wide flowers, stem leaves with petioles, and a cottony-hairy seed head; Pasque Flower, A. patens (Pulsatilla patens), is silky-hairy throughout with white to pale-blueish flowers; Cutleaf Anemone, A. multifida, in northern NM, has pink to maroon flowers and silky-hairy, compound basal leaves; Desert Anemone, A. tuberosa, in southern NM, has white to pinkish flowers and smooth, compound basal leaves.

NM COUNTIES: Central and northern NM mountains in mid- to high-elevation, moist habitats:: Bernalillo, Colfax, Lincoln, Mora, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Taos, Torrance.