Herbs , perennial, deciduous, to 2-9 dm, glabrous. Rhizomes nodose, producing 2 leaves per year. Aerial stems present. Leaves caducous, cauline, 2-ranked, 1st leaf larger than 2d leaf, 2-4-ternately compound; petioles short or absent. Leaf blade broadly obovate in overall outline; rachis pulvinate; leaflet blades broadly obovate, entire or lobed, margins not toothed; venation pinnate to palmate. Inflorescences terminal, compound cymes. Flowers 3-merous, 6-20 mm; bracteoles caducous, 3-4, sepaloid; sepals 6, yellow, purple, red, brown, or green, petaloid; petals 6, fan-shaped, bearing nectar; stamens 6; anthers dehiscing by 2 apically hinged flaps; pollen exine reticulate; ovary bladderlike; placentation appearing basal; styles eccentric. Fruits not developed, ovary wall soon rupturing. Seeds 2, elevated on elongating stalk, naked at maturity; seed coat blue, fleshy, glaucous; aril absent. x = 8.
Herbs, perennial, deciduous, glabrous. Rhizome creeping, stout, nodose, with numerous fibrous roots. Aerial stem erect. Leaves alternate, 2 or 3 × ternately compound, broadly ovate in overall outline; petiole short or leaves sessile; pinnules petiolulate or sessile, ovate, obovate, or broadly lanceolate, undivided or lobed, venation pinnate or palmate, margin entire. Inflorescences terminal, compound cymes. Flowers 3-merous; bracteoles 3 or 4, sepaloid, caducous. Sepals 6, petaloid, yellow, red, purple, or green. Petals 6, fan-shaped or obovate, nectary-like. Stamens distinct; anthers dehiscing by 2 apically hinged flaps; pollen prolate, 3-colporate, exine reticulate. Ovary bladderlike; placentation basal; styles eccentric. Fruit not developing, ovary wall soon rupturing and seed coat becoming fleshy and fruitlike. Seeds 2, raised on elongating stalk, naked at maturity, globose; seed coat tunic-blue, fleshy, glaucous. x = 8.
"Sep 6, biseriate, petaloid, subtended by 3 or 4 sepal-like bracts; pet 6, biseriate, represented only by small, stipitate-flabellate, gland-like nectaries opposite and much shorter than the sep; stamens 6; ovary asymmetrical, tapering above and with a minute apicolateral stigma; poisonous smooth perennial herbs, the erect stem bearing above the middle a single large, sessile, triternate lf, simulating 3 biternate lvs, and another smaller lf just below the infl; ovary soon ruptured by the enlarging seeds, which ripen fully exposed on short, stout stalks and resemble drupes. 2, the other in e. Asia."
SELECTED REFERENCES
Brett, J. F. 1981. The Morphology and Taxonomy of Caulophyllum thalictroides (L.) Michx. (Berberidaceae) in North America. M.S. thesis. University of Guelph. Loconte, H. and W. H. Blackwell. 1985. Intrageneric taxonomy of Caulophyllum (Berberidaceae). Rhodora 87: 463-469. Loconte, H. and J. R. Estes. 1989. Generic relationships within Leonticeae (Berberidaceae). Canad. J. Bot. 67: 2310-2316. Moore, R. J. 1963. Karyotype evolution in Caulophyllum. Canad. J. Genet. Cytol. 5: 384-388.
| Name | Language | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue cohosh, caulophylle [Greek caulos, stem, and phyllos, leaf] |
|
