ANNUAL Plants that grow from seed, blossom, produce fruits and seeds, and die (root and all) within one year are called annuals. Only their seeds live on, to produce new plants in future years. Most annuals live their whole life during one spring-to-fall growing season. Some, called winter annuals, begin to grow in autumn, live through winter, produce seeds, and die the following spring or summer.

Annuals grow wild in most parts of the world. Many of them have long been cultivated (grown) by man. These include such useful plants as corn, wheat, rice, other cereal grains, peas, and beans. Annual garden flowers have blossoms of different color, shape, size, and blooming times. Petunias, sweet peas, and zinnias are examples of annual flowers. Many weeds are also annuals.

Plants that are annuals under some conditions may be biennials or even perennials. For example, some weeds grow as annuals where winters are very cold, but are biennials to warmer climates.

ANEMONE , or windflower. The anemone is a flower of the buttercup family. The plants grow two or three feet high with their leaves on the flower stem. They bloom in the spring, summer, and autumn. Usually, only one flower grows on a stem. The leaves are usually divided, with sharply cut edges.

The wood anemone is the most common variety in North America, growing even in high mountain areas. One species, known as the pasque flower, is the South Dakota state flower. The anemone also grows in England and Central Europe. Perhaps one of the most unusual varieties is the Japanese anemone, which grows up to three feet high and has flowers about three inches across.

The wild type is either white or white tinged with pink. Cultivated varieties, and even pink wild varieties growing in the shade, may have pink, rose, red, or even purple blossoms that are often two inches wide. Under cultivation, the petal-like sepals are numerous and form double flowers. The slender, green stem of the woodland plants creeps along the surface of the ground. Many of the cultivated types have very short, thick root tubers from which new plants grow. The plants come up each year from the same rootstock and, for this reason, are called perennials.

Anthurium is the name of a large genus of flowering plants native to tropical regions (Tropical Flowers) in North and South America. There are about 1,100 species of anthuriums. They grow wild chiefly in rain forests. They also are cultivated in greenhouses and gardens.

Many wild anthuriums wrap around tree trunks and branches, though some grow along the ground. Most anthuriums have large evergreen leaves shaped like hearts. In some species, the leaves are lobed or separated.

The pink flamingo; also, is one of the most commonly cultivated anthuriums. Anthuriums are grown for their beautiful leaves and brightly colored leaf like spathes, rated into fingerlike leaflets. Anthuriums bear very small flowers tightly packed on a cylindrical fleshy stalk called a spadix. The spadix rises from a shiny, leaf-like spathe, which is often brightly colored.

One of the most commonly cultivated anthuriums is the pink flamingo, also called flamingo lily. This plant has a bright pink spathe that lasts several weeks. Gardeners also grow anthuriums for their attractive leaves. The leaf veins of some species are outlined in pale green to silvery white against a dark green or purple background.

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