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GOLDTHREAD CANKERROOT [GOLDTHREAD]
(Coptis trifolia) Crowfoot family [Buttercup family]
Flowers - Small white, solitary, on a slender scape 3 to 6 in.
high. Sepals 5 to 7, petal-like, falling early; petals 5 or 6,
inconspicuous, like club-shaped columns; stamens numerous carpels
few, the stigmatic surfaces curved. Leaves: From the base, long
petioled, divided into 3 somewhat fan-shaped, shining, evergreen,
sharply toothed leaflets. Rootstock: Thread-like, long, bright
yellow, wiry, bitter.
Preferred Habitat - Cool mossy bogs, damp woods.
Flowering Season - May-August
Distribution - Maryland and Minnesota northward to circumpolar
regions.
The shining, evergreen, thrice-parted leaves with which this
charming little plant carpets its retreats form the best of
backgrounds to set off the fragile, tiny white flowers that look
like small wood anemones. Why does the gold-thread choose to
dwell where bees and butterflies, most flowers' best friends,
rarely penetrate? Doubtless because the cool, damp habitat that
develops abundant fungi also perfectly suits the fungus gnats and
certain fungus-feeding beetles that are its principal
benefactors. "The entire flower is constructed with reference to
their visits," says Mr. Clarence Moores Weed; "the showy sepals
attract their attention; the abnormal petals furnish them food;
the many small stamens with white anthers and white pollen
furnish a surface to walk upon, and a foreground in which the
yellow nectar-cups are distinctly visible; the long-spreading
recurved stigmas cover so large a portion of the blossom that it
would be difficult even for one of the tiny visitors to take many
steps without contact with one of them." On a sunny June day the
lens usually reveals at least one tiny gnat making his way from
one club-shaped petal to another - for the insignificant petals
are mere nectaries - and transferring pollen from flower to
flower.
Dig up a plant, and the fine tangled, yellow roots tell why it
was given its name. In the good old days when decoctions of any
herb that was particularly nauseous were swallowed in the simple
faith that virtue resided in them in proportion to their
revolting taste, the gold-thread's bitter roots furnished a tea
much valued as a spring tonic and as a cure for ulcerated throats
and canker-sore mouths of helpless children.
Next: WHITE BANEBERRY
Previous: SASSAFRAS BEAVERTREE [SWEETBAY MAGNOLIA]
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