General:
Perennial herb from a stout rhizome, smooth; stems erect to ascending, 25-120 cm tall, sometimes branched above.

Leaves:
Basal leaves several, 10-50 cm long, pinnately compound, with stipules fused to base of long leaf-stalks and forming membranous margins; leaflets 7 to 17, egg-shaped to oblong, 2-7 cm long, coarsely saw-toothed; stem leaves alternate, 1 to 3, reduced, with free leaflet-like stipules.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a dense, cylindric, long-stalked spike, sometimes tapering at the top, of numerous small flowers, the spike 3-13 cm long; corollas absent; calyces greenish- or yellowish-white, sometimes purplish tinged at the tip, 4-lobed, the lobes oval, 2.5-3 mm long; ovaries superior; stamens 4, the filaments somewhat dilated above, at least 3 times as long as the calyx-lobes.

Fruits:
Achenes, enclosed in the 4-angled, slightly winged hypanthium.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Sanguisorba canadensis subsp. latifolia (Hook.) Calder & Roy L. Taylor
Sanguisorba canadensis var. latifolia Hook.
Sanguisorba sitchensis C.A. Mey.
Sanguisorba stipulata Raf.