FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Look for characteristic red roots of this plant, which run red juice when cut. Leaves bright green and stems have fine hairs near the flower/seedhead.
Synonym(s): Gyrotheca tinctoria, Gyrotheca tinctorium, Lachnanthes caroliana, Lachnanthes tinctoria, Lachnanthes tinctorium
Description: Perennial herb with red rhizomes and roots, and a velvety seedhead on the end of flowering stems.
Leaves: Bases of bright green leaf blades grow with one side facing the stem, about half as long as flowering stem. Leaves 30 to 38 cm long and about 1.3 cm wide, except for a few small stem leaves.
Flowers/Fruit: Compact, wooly corymb flower head with small yellow flowers, aging to dark brown globular seed casings. Blooms June to early September; fruits September to November.
Habit and Range: Wet, acidic, often sandy soil of bogs, wet pinelands, ditches, marshes, edges of pocosins in the Coastal Plain, except rare in the northern counties.
Taxonomic Note: This is the only species in the Lachnanthes genus. The synonym Lachnanthes caroliana is probably a spelling error.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Without flowers or seedheads, Lachnanthes caroliniana (redroot) could be confused with Iris spp., which have brown roots.
Click here to view Iris virginica.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
