National Geographic Magazine/Volume 31/Number 6/Our State Flowers/The Pasque Flower

The Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla patens, L., Mill.)


Inhabiting dry soil and prairie lands, blossoming through March and April, ranging from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to Texas, the pasque flower, elected queen of flowerland by the legislature of South Dakota, need never fear to stand in any flower company, however distinguished, however beautiful, however charming.

As a member of the crowfoot family, the pasque flower has some lovely cousins. For instance, there is the Virgin's bower or clematis, the wood anemone, the buttercup, the larkspur, the monkshood, the columbine, the goldthread, and the baneberries. Its immediate relatives are the anemones, among which it is one of the prettiest.

With the first warm sunshine of spring the pasque flower begins to lend its soft purplish hues to the landscape. Its leaves are so furry, the result of its unconscious efforts to protect itself from pilfering ants and other creeping insects, that the children of South Dakota have come to call it the “gosling plant.” If its lovely flowers gladden the hills while ungenial winter wanes, its fruiting period also has beauty to offer. A head of silky seedlets with their dainty plumes leads many people to call it the ground clematis.

The stalk of the anemone lengthens considerably after the plant flowers. Those familiar with the garden varieties have noticed how it grows longer even after it has been cut. If the stems be put in water, they readily double their length. This power of cell-making, with only air, light, and water out of which to manufacture tissue, seems a wonderful gift. Devoid of roots and possessed only of local energy, it is hard to understand how the stalk continues to grow. It has been suggested that the duty of raising the seed capsule to the required height may be one that the roots have delegated to another part, just as the brain of man has delegated to the nerve ganglions the duty of shutting the eyes when they are threatened, or of causing the body to jump at a sudden noise.

The pasque flower of South Dakota is a speaking likeness of an English variety, if indeed it is not the direct descendant of that flower. There is a tradition that the plant first arose out of the blood of the Danes who were killed on the field of battle in the stormy days of Britain's early history, and many people call it the “Danesblood.” Opinions differ as to how it came by its name of pasque flower. Some say that before the Gregorian revision of the calendar it was the most abundant flower at Eastertide; hence its name. Others declare that a dye for coloring Easter eggs was obtained from it. Be that as it may, the pasque flower itself brings delight to the prairies even before the last winter winds have roared their farewell.

Source: —, ed. (June 1917), “Our State Flowers: The Floral Emblems Chosen by the Commonwealths”, The National Geographic Magazine 31(6): 499–500. (Illustration from page 514.)