Small tuberous anemone native to the eastern Mediterranean region: Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Caucasus, up to 2,000 meters in altitude. Forms small clusters of leaves divided into finely toothed ternate segments, bright green, emerging early in spring from an irregular and flattened tuber. The flowers, borne on stems 10 to 15 cm high, feature numerous narrow tepals — usually 9 to 15 — radiating around a center of yellow stamens, reminiscent of a daisy. Blue to mauve forms are the most widespread in the wild.
Blue-flowered cultivars — marketed under the names
'Blue Star'
,
'Radar'
for forms with a white center, or simply under the name « blue » — have tepals of a more or less intense blue-mauve to blue-violet depending on the selections, bright in the spring sun. These are generally the most vigorous and naturalizing forms, close to wild populations.
