Geum canadense
Geum schofieldii
benoîte du Canada, white avens
queen Charlotte avens
30–100 cm, glabrate to downy, hairs to 1.5 mm, sometimes glandular.
13–30 cm, puberulent, hairs scattered, 0.1–1 mm.
basal 10–25 cm, blade simple or pinnate, major leaflets 3–5, plus 0–4 minor basal ones, terminal leaflet larger than major laterals;
cauline 3–8 cm, stipules ± free, 4–13 × 1–7 mm, blade 3-foliolate or simple and 3-lobed to unlobed.
basal 5–25 cm, blade interruptedly lyrate-pinnate, major leaflets 5–7, interspersed with 2–8 minor ones increasing in size distally, terminal leaflet larger than major laterals;
cauline 1.5–4.5 cm, stipules adnate to leaf, indistinguishable from pair of lobes, blade bractlike, not resembling basal, simple, 3-fid.
3–15-flowered.
1-flowered.
densely hairy, hairs of varying lengths, few long stiff ones, sometimes glandular.
densely puberulent, sometimes glandular.
erect;
epicalyx bractlets 0.5–1.5 mm;
hypanthium green;
sepals spreading but soon reflexed, 3–6 mm;
petals spreading, white, obovate to oblong, (3–)4–8 mm, ± equal to or slightly longer than sepals, apex rounded.
erect;
epicalyx bractlets 4–8 mm;
hypanthium green;
sepals erect to erect-spreading, 7–12 mm;
petals spreading, yellow, broadly obovate to nearly orbiculate, 14–16 mm, distinctly longer than sepals, apex broadly rounded to irregularly emarginate.
sessile, densely bristly, hairs 1–2.3 mm.
sessile, glabrous.
geniculate-jointed, proximal segment persistent, 2–8 mm, apex hooked, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely hairy or stipitate-glandular, distal segment deciduous, 1–2 mm, pilose in basal 1/2, hairs much longer than diam. of style.
wholly persistent, not geniculate-jointed, 7–10 mm, apex not or ± hooked, pilose only on bases.
= 42.
= 112.
Geum canadense
Geum schofieldii
Varieties and forms have been described in an effort to classify the variation encompassed in Geum canadense. In the eastern half of the United States, it is by far the most common, widespread, and variable of the Geum species. Nearly all writers of recent floras have not found it worthwhile to apply names to the variants. Perhaps the most distinctive and worthy of further consideration are plants from the southwestern corner of the range in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. These plants, some of which fit Fernald and Weatherby’s description of var. texanum, bloom from late March through May, significantly earlier than the rest of the species, which typically flowers after June first, even in the other southern states.
Geum canadense hybridizes with G. urbanum (= G. ×catlingii J.-P. Bernard & R. Gauthier); see discussion under 15. G. urbanum.
Geum album J. F. Gmelin is a superfluous name that pertains here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Geum schofieldii is one of the more attractive yet seldom seen species of avens in North America; it is known from the rocky wet mountains of the Queen Charlotte Islands and northern Vancouver Island.
Because Geum schofieldii appears to be intermediate morphologically between G. calthifolium and G. rossii, some botanists have considered it to be a hybrid and included it in synonymy with G. ×macranthum [G. calthifolium × G. rossii]. The 16-ploid chromosome number (2n = 112) of G. schofieldii suggests an allopolyploid origin. Geum rossii is not known to occur in the Queen Charlotte Islands or on Vancouver Island; the plants cannot be of recent hybrid origin. Geum ×macranthum is found in the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula where the two parental species overlap. Compared to G. schofieldii, its leaves are more pinnate than lyrate-pinnate, with 9 to 13 major leaflets instead of 5 to 7. Also, G. ×macranthum appears to be sterile; G. schofieldii appears to be fertile, suggesting that the latter is a valid species. The distinctness of G. schofieldii pollen also supports its specific status (R. J. Hebda and C. C. Chinnappa 1990).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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