General: Perennial herb from scaly rhizomes; flowering stems 40-80 cm tall, with a few leaves, strongly long-hairy below, becoming more glandular-hairy above.
Leaves: Basal leaves heart- to kidney-shaped, 3-8 cm wide, about as long, shallowly 5- to 7-lobed, irregularly toothed, the stalks 5-20 cm long, strongly long-hairy; stipules about 5 mm long, membranous, fringed to toothed; stem leaves similar to the basal, 1 to 3, reduced.
Flowers: Inflorescence a many-flowered, spike-like, terminal cluster, generally 1-sided, with scale-like bracts; flower stalks 2-5 mm long; petals greenish-white to rose, 3-7 mm long, pinnately divided at tip into 5 or 7 linear segments, short-clawed, deciduous; calyces greenish, 6-8 mm long, to 11 mm in fruit, joined partly to ovary, hypanthium tubular bell-shaped, longer than joined portion, the lobes triangular-egg-shaped, 2-3 mm long, erect; stamens 10.
Fruits: Capsules, about 4 mm long; seeds brown, 0.8-1 mm long, wrinkled-warty in lengthwise rows.
Moist forests, streambanks and thickets in the lowland and montane zones; common in W and E BC south of 57degreeN, mostly absent from central BC north of 51degreeN; N to the Aleutian Islands and S AK, E to AB and S to MT, N ID and CA.
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 montane, Western North American forb distributed more in the Pacific than the Cordilleran region. Occurs in cool temperate and cool mesothermal climates on fresh to very moist, nitrogenÂrich soils; its occurrence decreases with increasing continentality and elevation. Frequent on water-receiving sites and sporadic on water-shedÂding sites; most common in broad-leaved forests on floodplains where it associates with Acer macrophyllum, Athyrium filix-femina, Polystichum munitum, Sambucus racemosa, Tiarella trifoliata, and Tolmiea menziesii. A nitrophytic species characteristic of Moder and Mull humus forms.
