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Published In: Systema Naturae, Editio Decima 2: 1088. 1759. (Syst. Nat. (ed. 10)) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 9/8/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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1. Hydrastis canadensis L. (goldenseal)

Pl. 516 a–c; Map 2364

Plants perennial herbs, with thick, yellow, creeping, usually branched rhizomes. Basal leaf one, often small and scalelike or withering early when subtending fertile stems, well-developed when no fertile stem is produced, long-petiolate. Stems 15–35(–50) cm long, erect or ascending, moderately pubescent with short, fine, spreading hairs. Stem leaves 2, alternate near the stem tip, relatively short-petiolate. Leaf blades 2–6 cm long and 3–10 cm wide at flowering, developing to 12–25 cm wide at fruiting, palmately moderately to deeply (3–)5–9-lobed, broadly heart-shaped or kidney-shaped to nearly circular, the base deeply cordate, the lobes variously oblong-elliptic to elliptic, ovate, or somewhat rhombic, tapered to sharply pointed tips, the margins otherwise sharply and irregularly jagged-toothed or -lobed, the upper surface glabrous or nearly so, the undersurface finely hairy along the veins. Inflorescences of solitary flowers at the stem tips, the stalk 5–35 mm long, produced as the leaves develop. Flowers actinomorphic, perfect. Sepals 3, 3.5–7.0 mm long, ovate to oval or elliptic, rounded or bluntly pointed at the tip, plane, green to creamy white, shed before the stamens and pistils become functional. Petals absent. Stamens showy, the anthers yellow. Staminodes absent. Pistils 5–15, each with 2 ovules, the style rather short. Fruits dense, globose aggregates of 5–15 berries, the clusters 15–26 mm in diameter, the individual berries 5–8 mm long, more or less globose to more commonly distended and/or somewhat flattened by adjacent berries, juicy, the outer layer thin, red, smooth or finely pebbled, not veiny, tipped with a peglike beak, this 1–2 mm long, straight, but usually somewhat angled. Seeds 1 or 2 per berry, 2.5–4.5 mm long, ellipsoid, the surface smooth, black, shiny. Receptacle not enlarged at fruiting. 2n=26. April–May.

Scattered nearly throughout the state, but uncommon in the Unglaciated Plains Division and the western half of the Glaciated Plains (eastern U.S. west to Minnesota and Arkansas; Canada). Bottomland forests, mesic upland forests, banks of streams and rivers, and bases of bluffs.

Hydrastis canadensis makes an attractive, but relatively slow-growing, groundcover in shade gardens and is available at many wildflower nurseries. Goldenseal preparations (made from the rhizomes) are widely sold as herbal medicines, and the sale of wild-collected goldenseal generates more money than any other North American herbal remedy except ginseng. Goldenseal is becoming uncommon in many areas, probably due to commercial overcollecting by root diggers (Concannon and DeMeo, 1997). In recognition of conservation concerns about the species, international trade in the underground parts of H. canadensis is regulated under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

 


 

 
 
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