Official State Flowers of the United States
Pustatilla patens nuttalliana - Eastern pasqueflower
Pustatilla patens nuttalliana – Eastern pasqueflower
State of South Dakota Flower
South Dakota designated the American pasque (Pulsatilla hirsutissima) as the official state flower in 1903.
The genus Pulsatilla contains about 33 species of herbaceous perennials native to meadows and prairies of North America, Europe, and Asia. Common names include pasque flower (or pasqueflower), wind flower, prairie crocus, Easter flower, and meadow anemone. Several species are valued ornamentals because of their finely-dissected leaves, solitary bell-shaped flowers, and plumed seed heads. The showy part of the flower consists of sepals, not petals.
The genus Pulsatilla is sometimes considered a subgenus under the genus Anemone or as an informally named “group” within Anemone subgenus Anemone section Pulsatilloides.
The flower blooms early in spring, which leads to the common name Pasque flower, since Pasque refers to Easter (Passover). In South Dakota in the center of North America, the flower sprouts from late March through early June.
Pulsatilla patens is the provincial flower of Manitoba, Canada and (as the synonym P. hirsutissima) is the state flower of the US state of South Dakota.Pulsatilla vulgaris is the County flower for both Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire in England.Pulsatilla vernalis is the county flower of Oppland, Norway.
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