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Description: Goldenseal is an herbaceous perennial originating from an underground, yellowish knotty rhizome. Goldenseal grows to approximately 1.5 to 5 dm in height forming dense clumps. The flowering stems, are sparsely pilose, have two leaves near the top that continue to grow after flowering. Juvenile and sterile plants may produce a single leaf. The toothed, veined, coarsely hairy, leaves are up to 30 cm in width at maturity. The leaves are heart-shaped at the base and have 3 to 7 lobes. In late March to early April, solitary, terminal flowers are produced. The flowers have no petals and they along with the 3 greenish-white sepals fall off early. Stamens and carpels are numerous. The flowers of goldenseal are quite conspicuous because of the showy, white stamens. In May to June, the fruit develops as a head of dull red or crimson berries with 1 to 2 seeds.
Habitat:
"Goldenseal grows best in rich, mesic hardwood forest, especially those underlain by limestone or alkaline soils. These forests are often second growth forests with the following associates: red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), sweet birch (Betula lenta), ironwood (Carpinus caroliniana), hickory (Carya spp.), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), American elm (Fraxinus americana), yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), American hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), oak (Quercus spp.), arbor vitae (Thuja occidentalis), American basswood (Tilia americana), slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), alternateleaf dogwood (Cornus alternifolia), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), eastern poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), northern maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum), thimbleweed (Anemone quinquefolia), wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense), broadleaf sedge (Carex platyphylla), sedge (Carex spp.), blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides), wild geranium (Geranium maculatum), liverleaf (Hepatica spp.), waterleaf (Hydrophyllum spp.), mayflower (Maianthemum spp.), twoleaf miterwort (Mitella diphylla), sweet root (Osmorhiza spp.), American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), ebony spleenwort (Podophyllum peltatum), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), trillium (Trillium spp.), bellwort (Uvularia spp.), and violet (Viola spp). Species composition will vary considerable from region to region, but some of the above associates are likely to be found. Areas with goldenseal also tend to have a nice collection of spring wildflowers and fern diversity is also likely higher than surrounding areas" (NatureServe 2003). Goldenseal is a wide-ranging species with 1,000 to 5,000 occurrences, including some individual occurrences with thousands of stems; it may have been even more abundant in presettlement times. Populations are most common in woodlands and forest with alkaline soil. The loss of habitat through development and logging is common and poses the greatest threat (NatureServe 2003).
Range:
Goldenseal is found throughout the eastern United States and Ontario, Canada.
References
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