Canadian Wildginger (Priority species: Smokies Discovery Impact Day)

Canadian Wildginger

Asarum canadense

Summary ⁶

Asarum canadense, commonly known as wild ginger, is a small forest-dwelling plant native to deciduous forests throughout eastern North America. This is commonly seen as a dense ground cover of thick, heart-shaped leaves only a few inches above the forest floor. Its unusual flowers bloom in the spring and are often hidden below its leaves.

Description ⁷

Its leaves are kidney-shaped and persistent. Underground shoots are shallow-growing, fleshy rhizomes that branch to form a clump. The flowers bloom from April through June, are hairy, and have three sepals, tan to purple on the outside and lighter inside, with tapered tips and bases fused into a cup.

Pollinated flowers develop into a pod, which splits open when ripe to reveal seeds with elaiosomes, structures that are eaten by ants (myrmecochory).

The diploid chromosome number is 26.

Similar Species ⁶

Wild ginger may be mistaken for other low-growing forest plants with heart-shaped leaves, like violets. The leaves of wild ginger are generally thicker and rougher, semi-evergreen, with smooth edges.

Wildlife Interactions ⁶

Although wild ginger flowers are generally self-pollinated, they are visited by small flies and beetles.

When seeds are ripe they are spread by ants and other insects in a process called myrmecochory. The seeds have fatty appendages called elaiosomes which attract ants. Ants take the seeds back to their colony, strip off the nutritious elaiosome, and discard the actual seed nearby as trash.

Sources and Credits

(c) Steven J. Baskauf, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/baskauf/20422
(c) sallen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by sallen
(c) Flickr, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7102/7370350596_bddc4efa42_b.jpg
(c) 2009 Barry Rice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=282967&one=T
(c) 2009 Barry Rice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=282969&one=T
(c) The Preserve at Shaker Village, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/523518
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asarum_canadense

More Info

Range Map

iNat Map

‹ › ×