Caulophyllum thalictroides

Caulophyllum thalictroides
Blue cohosh in a Michigan deciduous forest
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Berberidaceae
Tribe:	Leonticeae
Genus:	Caulophyllum
Species:	C. thalictroides
Binomial name
Caulophyllum thalictroides (L.) Michaux

Blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) a species of Caulophyllum and family Berberidaceae, also called squaw root (a name often used for the parasitic flowering plant, Conopholis americana) or papoose root, is a flowering plant in the Berberidaceae (barberry) family. It is a medium-tall perennial with blue berry-like fruits and bluish-green foliage.

Inflorescence

Fruits

Uses

It was used as a medicinal herb by American Indians. Many Native American tribes and later European herbologists and mid-wives would use this herb in conjunction with other herbs and fluids for abortive and contraceptive purposes.

Characteristics

From the single stalk rising from the ground, there is a single, large, three-branched leaf plus a fruiting stalk. The bluish-green leaflets are tulip-shaped, entire at the base but serrate at the tip. Its species name, thalictroides, comes from the similarity between the large highly divided, multiple-compound leaves of Meadow-rue (Thalictrum) and those of Blue Cohosh.

It is found in hardwood forest of the eastern United States, and favors moist coves and hillsides, generally in shady locations, in rich soil.

Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa), although similarly named, is actually a plant in a separate genus.

Blue Cohosh grows in eastern North America, from Manitoba and Oklahoma east to the Atlantic Ocean.

See also

• Caulophyllum

External links

Data related to Caulophyllum thalictroides at Wikispecies Media related to Caulophyllum thalictroides at Wikimedia Commons

• USDA page for Caulophyllum thalictroides
• Blue Cohosh page from eFloras site