Canadian Blacksnakeroot

Sanicula canadensis L. Sp. PI. 235. 1753
Caucalis canadensis Crantz, Class. Umbell. 110. 1767.
Sanicula marilandica var. canadensis Torr. Fl. U. S. 302. 1824.
Sanicula Triclinium DC. Prodr. 4: 85. 1830.
Sanicula triclinaria St. Lag. Ann. Soc. Bot. Lvon 7: 134. 1880.
Sanicula floridana Bickn. Bull. Torrey Club 24: 581. 1897.
Sanicula canadensis var. typica H. Wolff in Engler, Pflanzenreich 61 (4 228 ) : 67. 1913.
Sanicula canadensis var. floridana H. Wolff in Engler, Pflanzenreich 61 (4 228 ) : 67. 1913.
Sanicula canadensis var. genuina Fernald, Rhodora 42: 467. 1940.
Sanicula canadensis var. grandis Fernald, Rhodora 42: 467. 1940.
Plants erect, 1.5-10 dm. high, biennial from fibrous, woody roots, glabrous, the stem usually solitary, alternately dichotomously branched above, 3-4-furcate at the apex; leaves triangular to suborbicular in general outline, excluding the petioles 1.5-14 cm. long, 1.5-16 cm. broad, palmately 3-parted (occasionally 5-parted or appearing so by division of the lateral primary divisions), the primary divisions ovate-lanceolate to cuneate-obovate, obtuse or acute, distinct, closely serrate and sometimes deeply incised above, the teeth mucronate to spinulose; petioles 5-20 cm. long; cauline leaves becoming subsessile above; involucre of a few leaflike bracts; bractlets of the involucel similar to the bracts but smaller; fertile rays 2-30 mm. long, the umbels irregular, few-flowered; sterile and fertile flowers in the same umbellet, the sterile shortly pedicellate; fertile pedicels 1-2 mm. long; flowers white; calyx deeply cleft, the lobes narrowly lanceolate, acute, exceeding the petals; anthers white, slightly exserted; styles shorter than the calyx, inconspicuous; fruits 3 in each umbellet, globose, 2-5 mm. long and broad, wrinkled, striate, the bristles numerous, dilated below, rather regularly in longitudinal rows, well developed throughout; oiltubes large, solitary in the grooves of the dorsal surface, 2 on the commissure; seed subterete in cross section, sulcate on the dorsal surface, the commissural face convex, the commissural scar linear.
Type locality: "Habitat in Virginia." collector unknown.
Distribution: Vermont to Florida, west to South Dakota and Texas (Biltmore Herb. 3408a,

Sanicula canadensis, the Canadian blacksnakeroot, is a native plant of North America and a member of family Apiaceae. It is biennial or perennial, and spreads primarily by seed. It grows from 1 to 4.5 feet tall, and is found in mesic deciduous woodlands. The whitish-green flowers with sepals longer than petals, appearing late spring or early summer and lasting for approximately three weeks, are green and bur-like. The bur-like fruit each split into 2 seeds. The species ranges throughout the eastern United States (excluding Maine), extending north into Quebec and Ontario, and west into Texas and Wyoming.