Pulsatilla grandis

Pulsatilla grandis, commonly called the greater pasque flower, is a flowering plant in the genus Pulsatilla of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is a perennial herb that reaches between 5 and 30 centimetres in height, with finely divided basal leaves that branch two to four times into narrow, deeply notched leaflets, and with upright, funnel shaped violet flowers covered in fine silky hairs. The flower colour varies across a range of violet shades, and after flowering the plant produces dry, single seeded fruits called achenes. It is native to central Europe, with a range running from Great Britain and western France east to Ukraine, and it grows mainly on steppe like hillsides and meadow slopes, often with a southern exposure. In Slovenia it is rare and protected, and it serves as a regional symbol and as a heraldic element in local iconography.