Geum macrophyllum Willd.
large-leaved avens (largeleaf avens)
Rosaceae (Rose family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

© Kevin deBoer     (Photo ID #22025)

Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Geum macrophyllum
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Species Information

General:
Perennial herb from a short rhizome and stout stem-base, stems erect, 30-100 cm tall, simple, 1 to several, coarse-spreading-hairy.
Leaves:
Basal leaves several, long-stalked, interruptedly pinnately cleft, 10-40 cm long, hairy along the veins beneath, with mostly 5 to 9 main segments, egg-shaped and blunt-toothed, interspersed with several much smaller segments, the terminal segment heart- to kidney-shaped, 3-10 cm long, 3-15 cm wide, many times larger than the several lateral leaflets below, coarsely blunt-toothed and often deeply 3-lobed, rounded or squared-off to heart-shaped at the base; stem leaves alternate, 2 to 5, smaller, unstalked or nearly so, deeply 3-lobed or 3-parted.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open, bracted terminal cluster of several stalked flowers; corollas yellow, saucer-shaped, the petals 5, broadly egg-shaped, shallowly notched at the tip, 4-7 mm long, calyces 5-lobed, the lobes broadly triangular, bent back, 3-5 mm long, alternating with linear bractlets (sometimes lacking) about 2 mm long; ovaries superior; stamens numerous.
Fruits:
Achenes, numerous, spreading in globe-shaped clusters; achenes ellipsoid, flattened, about 3 mm long, short-hairy, beaked with the 3- to 6-mm long persistent style, which has an S-shaped kink near the tip and is glandular below the kink, hairy or smooth and tardily deciduous above it.
Notes:
Two subspecies occur in BC:

1. Terminal segment of basal leaves shallowly rounded-lobed and minutely toothed; flower-shoots and -stalks commonly without glands; plants from west of Coast-Cascade Mountains..................... ssp. macrophyllum

1. Terminal segment of basal leaves deeply lobed and coarsely toothed or incised; flower-shoots and -stalks commonly strongly glandular; plants from east of Coast-Cascade Mountains.......................... ssp. perincisum (Rydb.) Hult.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

USDA Species Characteristics

Flower Colour:
Yellow
Blooming Period:
Late Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source:  The USDA

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Geum macrophyllum

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)

Site Information
 Value / Class

Avg

Min

Max
Elevation (metres)
 1012 5 2420
Slope Gradient (%)
 5 0 110

Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]

 136 0 360
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric] 		5 0 8
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
 D
# of field plots
 species was recorded in:
 1245
Modal BEC Zone Class
 SBS

All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in

 AT(1), BAFA(2), BG(2), BWBS(61), CDF(2), CMA(3), CWH(83), ESSF(178), ICH(208), IDF(105), IMA(1), MH(7), MS(125), PP(6), SBPS(69), SBS(327), SWB(25)

Habitat and Range

Moist meadows, fields, clearings, roadsides, streambanks and open forests in the lowland to montane zones; common throughout BC, except in driest parts of interior; amphiberingian, N to AK and NT, E to ON and S to MX; E Asia.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

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