From the Rocky Mountains eastward to Newfoundland and Georgia, this common and well-known herb raises its stout, smooth, hollow, usually simple and swaying stalk from one and a half to four feet in height. The firm, smooth, dark, or bluish green leaves are compounded of from five to seven palmate or spreading, long lance-shaped leaflets with their margins irregularly notched and toothed. The upper ones clasp the stalk and the lower ones are set on long stems. The tiny, pale, greenish yellow flowers have five petals that curve inward at first and cover the five stamens. Later they unfold and expose their charge. The flowers are both staminate and pistillate, and are found together in the same cluster. They are gathered in a rounding head and from two to four of these heads are borne in a loose terminal umbel. The small, cone-shaped fruit, or burr, is covered with numerous hooked bristles, and is usually tipped with two recurving styles. The fibrous aromatic root has been used for nervousness and fevers. Sanicle blooms from May to July, in rich, moist woods