These are herbaceous anemones that are much larger than the spring-flowering bulbs Anemone blanda and nemorosa, typically 50 to 80 cm high, some a little taller, some more spreading. All have lovely flowers, white, pale yellow, blue, red, often with a darker flush to the outside of the petals (strictly sepals). They include plants from woods and from alpine meadows, and originate all round the northern hemisphere.

Anemone (Eriocapitella) barbulata (rivularis) is a newly introduced species, originating in China, which has multiply branched slender stems bearing clusters of many delicate, small white flowers, blue on the reverse.