Apiaceae, the parsley, carrot, or umbel family.
Description:
Plant:
Erect, branching plant 1'-4' high with palmately compound leaves and tiny white flowers
emerging from a bur-like head. Perennial or biennial.
Flowers:
Tiny, white, 1/12"-1/8" long, on short stalks from bur-like heads that grow in small
clusters on stems of varying length that often emerge in groups of three from a terminal cluster of
leaves. Technically the flower is an umbel, but does not look like classic example.
Leaves:
Alternate, except at terminus where multiple flowering stems emerge,
palmately compound, with three to five sharply toothed, ovate to wedge-shaped leaflets.
The lateral leaflets are sometimes deeply lobed rather than fully separated.
Fruit:
Small, ellipsoidal, 1/4", densely covered with hooked bristles; bur-like.
Blooming:
May-July
Habitat:
Open woods
Comments:
One of several similar members of the genus Sanicula, all colloquially called Black
Snakeroot. This one is probably S. canadensis sometimes called Canada Snakeroot
or Canada Black Snakeroot to distinguish it.
The deeply cleft lateral leaflets are a diagnostic feature.
Where to find it:
Scattered through the upper woods of the park along the trail.