goldenseal

Goldenseal is an early season herbaceous plant. It occurs in the United States from New Hampshire to Northern Georgia, west to Minnesota and Arkansas. It also occurs in southern Ontario Canada. It is rare in Minnesota. It is found in the understory of undisturbed deciduous forests in sheltered ravines and talus slopes. It grows under dappled sunlight, in moist to moderately moist conditions, in loamy soil. It flowers in May before the forest canopy closes.

Goldenseal is listed as an endangered species in Minnesota. Its numbers are in decline due to habitat destruction and “wild collecting”. It grows in sheltered ravines and on talus slopes. It is intolerant of changes that open the forest canopy. The plant is the source of the alkaloids hydrastine and berberine, which herbalists use to treat sores of the mouth, throat, and digestive system. The alkaloid concentrations required for pharmaceutical use occur only in the rhizomes. More than 60 million plants are picked every year, and these plants are not replaced. It takes four to five years for a plant to reach sexual maturity. There is currently no scientific evidence supporting the use of goldenseal for any medicinal purposes.

Goldenseal is perennial and slow growing. It can be 6″ to 20″ (15 to 50 cm) tall, but it is usually no more than 14″ (35 cm) tall. It rises on a single basal leaf and a single flowering stem from an underground, creeping, horizontal stem (rhizome). The rhizome is yellow, thick, and branched, and it has long, tough, fibrous roots. On older plants, the rhizome can be up to 2¾″ (7 cm) long and the roots can be up to 40″ (1 m) long. The rhizome may break apart, with each fragment forming a new plant, and new plants may be produced from buds on the long roots.

The basal leaf is similar to the stem leaves, but it is often small and scale-like, and it sometimes withers very early. It is on a long, hairy, leaf stalk (petiole).

The flowering stem is erect or ascending, unbranched, and moderately covered with short, fine, spreading hairs.

There are two leaves near the top of the stem. The stem leaves are ¾″ to 2⅜″ (2 to 6 cm) long, and 1¼″ to 4″ (3 to 10 cm) wide at flowering time. They are on relatively short petioles. The leaf blades are broadly heart shaped, kidney shaped, or nearly circular in outline and deeply heart-shaped at the base. They are shallowly, moderately, or deeply palmately cut into 3 to 9 lobes. The lobes are variously shaped, elliptic, oblong elliptic, egg shaped, or somewhat diamond shaped (rhombic). They taper to a sharply pointed tip. The upper surface is hairless or nearly hairless. The lower surface is finely hairy just along the veins. The margins are singly or doubly toothed with sharp, forward pointing teeth (serrate).

The inflorescence is a single flower at the tip of the stem. It is closely subtended by the upper stem leaf. The flower is on a 3⁄16″to 1⅜″ (5 to 35 mm) long stalk (pedicel).

The flower is 5⁄16″ to 11⁄16″ (8 to 18 mm) wide, white, radially symmetric, and bisexual (perfect). It is 3-parted, which is highly unusual for plants in the buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family. There are 3 outer floral leaves (sepals), no petals, 50 to 75 stamens, and 5 to 15 pistils. The sepals are ⅛″ to ¼″ (3.5 to 7.0 mm) long, greenish white or creamy white, flat, and egg-shaped, oval, or elliptic. They drop away before the stamens and pistils are fully developed. The stalks of the stamens (filaments) are white, showy, ⅛″ to 5⁄16″ (4 to 8 mm) long, and abruptly narrowed at the tip. They are dense and curved upward, giving a hemispherical shape to the flower. The anthers are yellow. There are no sterile stamens (staminodes) between the stamens and pistils. The ovary has 2 ovules. Each pistil has 1 carpel. The style is rather short.

The infructescence is a dense, ⅝″ to 1″ (15 to 26 mm) in diameter aggregate of 5 to 15 dark red berries. By fruiting time, the leaf below the infructescence has greatly enlarged, becoming 4¾″ to 10″ (12 to 25 cm) wide.

Each berry is 3 ⁄16″ to 5⁄16″ (5 to 8 mm) long and more or less globe shaped but somewhat flattened by the adjacent berries. It has a 1⁄32″ to 1⁄16″ (1 to 2 mm) long, more or less straight but usually angled extension (beak) at the end. There are 1 or 2 seeds in each berry. The berries ripen in June to early July.

6″ to 20″ (15 to 50 cm)

White

Deciduous forests in sheltered ravines and talus slopes

May

Goldenseal is the source of the alkaloids hydrastine and berberine. Herbalists use the plant’s rhizomes to treat sores of the mouth, throat, and digestive system.

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 28, 29, 30.

Native

Rare in Minnesota

This is the only species in the genus Hydrastis.

Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis

… photographed at the hedgerow and rich soil mesic oak woods adjacent to Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI.

Hydrastis canadensis
Mountain Gardens

Goldenseal herb, Hydrastis canadensis
LearningHerbs

Babette Kis
5/15/2023

Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI.

… photographed at the hedgerow and rich soil mesic oak woods adjacent to Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI.

Babette Kis
5/13/2023

Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI.

… photographed at the hedgerow and rich soil mesic oak woods adjacent to Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI.

Babette Kis
5/12/2023

Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI.

… photographed at the hedgerow and rich soil mesic oak woods adjacent to Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI.