White Avens

Geum canadense is native to this region, with flowers appearing May through July, and is as welcome a sight in our woodlands as it is when it stops in to visit my garden now and then. White avens is classified in the Rose family. Flowers are about 1/2 inch wide, consisting of 5 white petals spaced so widely apart that the 5 green sepals in between each petal are highly visible even though they may be pointing downward. The center is a dome-shaped mound filled with green styles surrounded by the stamens just above it. The flower buds form in the leaf axils in the upper part of the plant where the stems branch out, blooming singly at the ends of long flower stalks.

White avens has some medicinal uses and was also historically used as a flavoring in ale making.  The roots have a clove-like aroma and taste.

White avens has long-stalked basal leaves that are pinnately compound with the end leaflet being the largest, sometimes lobed. Side leaflets on the basal leaf are much smaller with 2 or more pairs of leaflets below. Stem leaves continue on the same theme with the addition of 2 stipules in the leaf axils, the difference being that as the leaves ascend, their midrib (or rachis) becomes shorter and shorter until the leaves appear to be palmately compound in 3s because the stem is shorter. Towards the very top among the flower area, the leaves actually become simple. All leaves are coarsely toothed. Stem is somewhat hairy, leaves variably so.