wind flower

Characteristics

A plant with two white flowers. Two flowers are usually in bloom, but there are also one and three flowers. The white sepals look like petals. There are usually 5 sepals, but some have 6. The pistil is yellow, and the stamen is paler than the pistil. The leaves are basal and split into three from the stem. The surface of the leaf is not glossy, and the base of the cut is whitish.

How to eat nirinsou

The leaves of nirinsou are edible and can be eaten as boiled. However, since Aconitum, also belonging to the Ranunculaceae family, has strong toxicity, it is desirable to collect it after surely identifying it by its flowers and buds.

Ecology

White flowers bloom from March to June. It grows by underground stems and forms colonies. It mainly grows in clusters on the ground of forests, but it also grows in parks and home gardens. The photo above was taken in my garden in April.

Habitat

I found a place growing in clusters in the woods of Hachioji City. I took a picture of a small caterpillar on the sepal. The small sepals, which were the size and shape of cherry blossom petals, were beautiful.