Western Anemone, Anemone Occidentalis

Day 285: Today I bring you one of the most mispronounced flowers of Mount Rainier National Park: Western Uh-NEM-uh-nee. It is not a "an enemy" or any other amusing confusion of the consonants. Let's practice: "uh (pause), NEM (emphasized, pause), uh (pause), nee," M in the middle, Ns on the ends, "uhN-eM-uhN-ee." Now try it three times fast from memory, Anemone is not an enemy.

Most people recognize Western Anemone when it is in its gone-to-seed clothes, but a smaller percentage readily identify it when it is in flower. The seed stage looks like a mop-head or as a Trekkie friend termed it, "Tribble-on-a-stick." In fact, an alternate common name for it is "Mouse-on-a-stick," and the feathery nature of its achenes provide yet another from the manner in which the seeds disperse: Windflower. It is also sometimes called Western Pasqueflower, so if your tongue simply cannot handle the twists and turns of "Uh-NEM-uh-nee," you have plenty of other options.