wild sarsaparilla

Great Plains

Midwest

FACU - Facultative upland

Northcentral & Northeast

FACU - Facultative upland

Native

Common

Moist to dry. Deciduous and mixed woodlands, thickets, river bottoms, prairie edges, bog edges. Shade tolerant.

May to June

White

12″ to 24″

This is a 12″ to 24″ tall, erect, perennial forb. There is no aerial stem. It rises as basal leaves and a flowering stalk (peduncle) from the tip of a long, creeping, 1¼″ to 4¾″ deep, underground stem (rhizome). It often forms colonies.

In mid-April or May usually one leaf, sometimes two or three leaves, emerge from the leaf litter. The leaves expand in early spring before the canopy closes. Each leaf is deciduous, 6″ to 15¾″ long, is on a long leaf stalk (petiole), and is divided into three compound segments. The petiole is slender, 6″ to 13¾″ long, light green to dark red, and hairless. It is not spiny. Each primary segment is pinnately divided into usually 5, sometimes 3 or 7, leaflets. The two lateral segments are distinctly asymmetrical, with the inner (toward the terminal segment) leaflets smaller than the outer (toward the petiole) leaflets.

The leaflets are narrowly elliptic to broadly egg-shaped, 1¼″ to 6″ long, and up to 2″ wide. The leaflet blade is rounded, narrowed, or somewhat heart-shaped at the base and tapered to a sharp point at the tip with concave sides along the tip. The lateral leaflets are slightly asymmetrical at the base. The upper surface is green and hairless. The lower surface is slightly lighter green and minutely hairy along the main veins. The margins are finely toothed with sharp, forward pointing teeth.

The inflorescence appears in May to June. It is a single umbrella-shaped cluster (umbel) of usually 3, sometimes only 2 or as many as 7, umbrella-shaped, secondary clusters (umbellets) of flowers. Each primary umbel is on a long peduncle that rises from the rhizome and has up to 40 or more flowers. The peduncle is 3″ to 10″ long, leafless, and minutely hairy toward the tip. It is usually much shorter than the petiole, causing the inflorescence to be hidden beneath the leaves. Each umbellet is globe-shaped, about ¾″ tall, and 1½″ to 2″ in diameter.

The individual flowers are ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ wide. The sepals are insignificant. There are 5 petals, 5 stamens with white anthers, and 5 styles. The petals are white or greenish-white, 1 ⁄32″to 1 ⁄16″ long, and strongly bent backward. The stamens have long white filaments that project well beyond the petals. The styles are fused together at the base and strongly appressed together for the rest of their length.

The fruit is a globe-shaped, ¼″ to ⅜″ long, purplish-black berry with usually 5 seeds. It matures in about 32 days. It is edible but is not palatable.

Bristly sarsaparilla (Aralia hispida) is a much larger plant, up to 60″ tall, that rises on an aerial stem. The stem is leafy and sharply bristly at the base.

Northern shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) seedlings look similar to flowerless wild sarsaparilla plants. The outer (closest to the petiole) leaflets of hickory leaves are always smaller than the inner (closest to the terminal segment) leaflets.

Sources: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 28.

Usually I've just seen the plant without the flower (which is underneath), but this year looking at it closely. OH!, this flower actually goes to this set of leaves which I see everywhere in my surroundings.

Plant

Inflorescence

Leaves

Infructescence

Location: Lake Shore, MN

Usually I've just seen the plant without the flower (which is underneath), but this year looking at it closely. OH!, this flower actually goes to this set of leaves which I see everywhere in my surroundings.

Location: Pennington Co.