Common Pasque Flower

Common Pasque Flower, Pulsatilla vulgaris, belongs to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), native to western, central and southern Europe.

It grows to 15–30 cm high and when it is fruit-bearing up to 40 cm. The roots go deep into the soil (to 1 m). The finely-dissected leaves are arranged in a rosette and appear with the bell-shaped flower in early spring.

It grows in sparsely wooded pine forests or meadows, often on a sunny sloping side with calcium-rich soil. It is also the county flower of the English counties of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. A large colony occurs on publicly accessible land in the Cotswolds, at the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's Gloucestershire Pasqueflower Reserve.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsatilla_vulgaris - 02.11.2011