Crown Anemone / Crown Windflower
(Anemone coronaria)
The Crown Anemone is an uncommon perennial herb with finely divided leaves arising from the base. The flowers have between five and eight petal-like sepals and, in Malta; these are usually bluish-violet. This flower occurs in meadows, valleys and scrublands, in the cold months between December and March. The Crown Anemone is distributed throughout the Mediterranean region, southern Europe and western Asia. Once fairly frequent, it seems to have been steadily decreasing over the last two decades.