An erect, leafy, herbaceous plant from a thick, perennial root; stems sometimes decumbent at the base, glabrous or somewhat pubescent below, simple or branched above, 1 to 6 feet high. Leaves odd-pinnate, the lower leaves long petioled, sometimes 1 to 1 ½ feet long; leaflets seven to fifteen, ovate, oblong or oval, blunt or pointed at the apex; pointed, blunt or even cordate at the base, sharply toothed. Flowers white, in dense terminal spikes, 1 to 6 inches long; petals none; calyx tube turbinate, constricted at the throat, four-winged, four-lobed, the lobes petallike, concave and deciduous; stamens four, their filaments long and white.

In swamps and low meadows, sometimes in bogs, Newfoundland to Michigan, south to Georgia. Flowering from July to September or even later.

Memoir 15 N. Y. State Museum

Plate 94

B. American Great Burnet - Sanguisorba canadensis