CANADIAN SANICLE
File Size: 55 KB
 
Sanicula canadensis  L.
Marion County, Kansas
Biennial
Height: 8-40+ inches
Family: Apiaceae - Parsley Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July
Stems: Erect, branched above, glabrous.
Leaves: Basal and cauline. Basal leaves: petiole 1.6 to 10 inches; blade 3-, 5-, or rarely 7-palmately compound or lobed, nearly circular in outline, 1.2 to 5 inches long, 2.4 to 5.6 inches wide; leaflets obovate to oblanceolate, .8 to 5 inches, margins serrate to doubly serrate, sometimes deeply incised distally, ultimate segments .6 to 2 inches wide, surfaces glabrous. Cauline leaves gradually reduced above; petiole present or absent; blade mostly 3- or 5-palmately compound or lobed.
Inflorescences: Compound umbels, terminal and sometimes axillary, peduncles 1.6 to 4.4 inches; involucral bracts (1-)2(-3); rays 1/12 to 1.2 inches; umbellets with mixture of 1-4 staminate and 2-5 bisexual flowers; involucel bractlets usually 8, lanceolate, ca. 1/25 inch.
Flowers: Calyx lobes 5, narrowly triangular; petals 5, greenish white, obovate; stamens 5, filaments distinct; styles 2; stigmas 2; styles of bisexual flowers shorter than bristles of schizocarps.
Fruits: Schizocarps, nearly spherical, 1/8 to 1/4 inch, splitting at maturity into 2 mericarps along the commissure (the joint formed by facing mericarps), flattened at right angle to commissure, densely bristly, bristles hooked; mericarps olive or brownish olive, ribs absent, oil tubes obscure; seeds 1 per mericarp.
Habitat: Maple-basswood, floodplain, and oak-hickory forests, forested bluffs, stream banks, and moist ravines in tallgrass prairies
Distribution: Occurs statewide
Origin: Native
Comments: Sanicula, to heal, alluding to medicinal properties. Our plants belong to the variety canadensis.

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