Enchanter's Nightshade, Circaea canadensis
(formerly called C. lutetiana, but that species is now believed to be strictly European)
Onagraceae or Evening Primrose Family
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Low plant, 1 to 2 feet tall. Leaves
opposite each other, egg-shaped, pointed, with small teeth, on long
stalks. Flowers tiny in short uncrowded clusters. Flowers have two
green to red sepals and two white petals which areso deeply lobed they
appear to be four. Fruit a tiny, bristly bur. Blooms in summer.
Native wildflower of shady woodlands. In Wildwood, occasional in the forested areas. The tiny white flowers and bristly burs are distinctive so the plant is easily identified. Dwarf enchanter's nightshade (C. alpina) is a smaller plant with larger leaf teeth that grows in the Appalachians; it has not been reported from the Park. |
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