by Leslie Cox; Monday; February 24, 2025

hyemalis – (hye-MAY-lis)

                     is Latin for “pertaining to winter”.

Eranthis hyemalis, common name winter aconite, is a lovely little plant which pops up in February in our garden. It gets no taller than about 6 inches (15 cm) and has a bright yellow flower that seems to radiate sunshine on even the cloudiest of days.

The genus name Eranthis is from two Greek words: er meaning “spring” and anthos meaning “flower”.

It was interesting that a google search only produced two other plant genus and one bird genus with the hyemalis species designation. (Mind you, I only scrolled through six google pages.)

They were:
• Agrostis hyemalis – winter bentgrass; tickle grass
• Crocus hyemalis – winter crocus; winter saffron
• Junco hyemalis – dark-eyed junco

If you are interested in learning more about Eranthis hyemalis and how it performs in our garden, click here.