Pasqueflower or Crocus?

This weekend I am excited to go back home to western North Dakota and head out to the pastures.

Why the pastures, you ask?

Crocuses.

As the surest and earliest sign of spring, the crocus brightens up drab pastures.

Although their beauty cannot be denied, their common name can be. Calling the flowers crocuses is a bit of a misnomer.

Crocus itself is a genus assigned to a group of flowering plants in the iris family. Certain varieties of crocus are cultivated to produce saffron, said to be the world's most expensive spice (The styles and stigmas of these crocuses are harvested for saffron).

Actual crocus, photo courtesy of University of Illinois Extension's "Spring Flowering Bulbs" page.

If the pasture crocuses of North Dakota aren't crocuses, what are they?

The pasture flower is Pulsatilla patens, a species found in the Ranunculaceae, or buttercup family.

Why has there been confusion on what a crocus is or isn't?

The common names given to what I have always called a crocus include Eastern pasqueflower, prairie smoke, prairie crocus, cutleaf anemone, and others.

With this information, I will do my best to remember to qualify what I have always called a crocus with the word prairie, and extinguish the misnomer I have habitually perpetuated when naming the beautiful sign of spring.