Flora of North America species comparison

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Caulophyllum giganteum

early blue cohosh, giant blue cohosh, northern blue cohosh
Stems

2-7 dm.
Leaves

1st leaf (2-)3-ternate; 2d leaf (1-)2-ternate;

leaflets 5-10 × 3-8 cm.
Inflorescences

with 4-18 flowers.
Flowers

bracteoles 2-4 mm;

sepals purple, red, brown, yellow, 6-9 × 1-4 mm, laterally revolute;

petals 2-3 mm;

stamen filaments 1.5-2.5 mm;

pistil 3-5 mm;

style 1-2 mm.
2n

= 16.

Caulophyllum giganteum
Phenology Flowering early spring.
Habitat Mesophytic forests
Elevation 0-700 m (0-2300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
KY; MA; MD; MI; NC; NH; NY; OH; PA; TN; VA; VT; WV; ON; QC
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Caulophyllum giganteum has a relatively northern distribution, and it flowers precociously; C. thalictroides has a broader distribution, extending farther south, flowers and fruits later, and is less precocious. Caulophyllum giganteum is treated as part of C. thalictroides by most authors.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Berberidaceae > Caulophyllum
Sibling taxa
C. thalictroides
Synonyms C. thalictroides var. giganteum
Name authority (Farwell) Loconte & W. H. Blackwell: Phytologia 49: 483. (1981)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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