Family: buttercups (Ranunculaceae)
Flowering time: April–May
Size: 15–25 cm
Habitat: dry sunny meadows and pastures
Mountain pasqueflower (Pulsatilla montana) opens its hairy flower even before developing palmately divided basal leaves, which are deeply pressed into narrow crevices. The whole plant, with the exception of the inner side of the petals, is densely covered with shiny long hairs. A wonderful contrast to the dark purple petals is provided by the numerous yellow stamens that surround the reddish throats of many pistils. The fruiting plant resembles a cof, as the neck of the pistil becomes greatly elongated during fruiting. Because of the substances it contains, the mountain pasqueflower is poisonous. In dry and sunny habitats it grows on warm sites in the southwestern part of Slovenia, where two plants rarely bloom one after another. In Slovenia it is protected and, as a vulnerable species, is also listed on the list of endangered plants of Slovenia.
