Family

Barberry.

Colour

Yellowisk green or purple.

Odour

Scentless.

Range

Mostly north and west.

Time Of Bloom

April, May.

Flowers: small; growing in a panicle at the summit of the stem. Calyx; of six sepals, having four short bractlets underneath. Corolla: of six kidney-shaped petals that terminate in short claws. Stamens: six. Pistil: one. Fruit: membranous, with a pair of blue, berry-like seeds on thick stalks, which are fleshy when ripe and glaucous. Leaves: one large leaf, thrice compound -. and one or two smaller ones above. Leaflets: twice, or thrice lobed; whitish underneath. Stem: smooth; erect. Rootstock: thick.

There are numerous plants that we pass by unheedingly in the spring-time of their bloom, and that, as if in retaliation for the slight, thrust themselves upon our attention in the autumn, by the brilliancy of their colouring and the graceful drooping of their fruit. The blue cohosh is among the number. And when, towards the end of the summer, the leaves turn yellow, they call loudly with the blue berries for the admiration that was denied to the plant earlier in the season. It is fond of rich living, and seeks its home in dense woods where the leaf mold covers the ground.

The Indian herb doctors know well the blue cohosh and call it pappoose-root, which rather suggests that a special decoction of it is held in reserve for the black-eyed little copper-skins.