General: Robust perennial herb from stout short-creeping rhizome; stems several, erect to ascending, 1-2 m tall, smooth.
Leaves: Alternate, 10-60 cm long, long-stalked, the lower leaves usually three times compound, the leaflets egg-shaped to narrowly oblong, sharply double-toothed and pointed, 3-15 cm long, the upper leaves smaller and less compounded; green and usually smooth above, hairy and paler below.
Flowers: Inflorescence a large, elongated, terminal panicle with numerous spike-like branches of tiny, short-stalked flowers; male and female flowers on separate plants; corollas white, the petals 5, oblong to egg-shaped, about 1 mm long; calyces 5-toothed, the teeth shorter than the petals; ovaries superior; pistils 3 (4 or 5) in female flowers; stamens 15 to 30 in male flowers.
Fruits: Follicles, bent back, more or less cylindric, somewhat leathery, straw-coloured, smooth, about 3 mm long; seeds 2 to 4 per follicle, about 2 mm long.
Moist to wet ravines, rocky ledges, avalanche tracks, streambanks, forest edges and openings in the low land and montane zones; common in BC south of 55degreeN, rare northward; circumboreal, N to AK and S to CA; Eurasia.
A strong but graceful plant with tall, creamy plumes that liven up any woodland garden with height and presence. Quite long-flowering in moist spots.
Note Author: Gary Lewis, Phoenix Perennials
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Aruncus dioicus
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-tolerant/intolerant, submontane to subalpine, circumpolar forb distributed in the Pacific, Cordilleran (less frequently), and Atlantic North America. Occurs on fresh to very moist, nitrogen-rich soils within boreal, cool temperate, and cool mesothermal climates. Commonly inhabits exposed mineral soil on water-receiving flooded sites. Scattered in earlyseral herbaceous communities in the proximity of intermittent or permanent waterways and run-off channels on steep, often shallow and rocky, colluvial slopes; less frequent in opencanopy, steep-gradient, streamedge forests. A nitrophytic species characteristic of Moder and Mull humus forms
