Natural form discovered in spontaneous undergrowth around Salies-de-Béarn, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, constituting a botanical and horticultural find of great interest. Double or semi-double forms appearing spontaneously in nature are rare curiosities, resulting from natural mutations affecting floral development, and their discovery in situ gives them a particular value, distinct from horticultural selections made in nurseries.
The photograph reveals a flower with a remarkably alluring architecture, distinctly different from known horticultural cultivars. An outer row of five large, rounded, slightly wavy tepals, in a slightly pinkish and satin white, forms a wide and regular spreading corolla. Inside, a dense and abundant center of additional petaloid parts unfolds, smaller, interlocking in successive rows, in a creamy white slightly pinkish, warmer and softer than the outer tepals. The multiplication of floral parts is not total, however: the center retains a bouquet of well-visible, bright yellow functional stamens, attesting to the semi-double rather than fully double character of the flower. It is precisely this restraint that gives the flower its particular charm — neither wild nor fully horticulturized, suspended in an intermediate state of very rare natural grace.
The general hue, slightly pearly pale pink with this heart of yellow stamens, is of exceptional softness and brightness in the undergrowth. The floral size appears generous, comparable to the best horticultural cultivars. The whole evokes a visual kinship with 'Vestal' while clearly distinguishing itself by the preservation of the stamens and the rosy warmth of the color.
Such a form, if it proves stable and propagates faithfully by division of the rhizomes, would fully deserve to be preserved, multiplied, and possibly introduced into the horticultural trade under an official name referring to its place of discovery. The Pyrenean region and its Atlantic undergrowth, benefiting from a mild and humid climate particularly favorable to Anemone nemorosa , constitute a territory conducive to the emergence of such remarkable spontaneous variations.