Family: Rosaceae
common agrimony, tall hairy agrimony
Christopher Noll
Kitty Kohout
University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)
Etymology: Agrimonia: possibly from Greek argema, an eye-disease, because of supposed medicinal value
Plants: erect, perennial, 1'-5' tall forb; stout stems with long hairs
Leaves: once pinnately-divided into 5-9 large leaflets with smaller ones in-between, coarsely toothed, mostly smooth above
Flowers: yellow, 5-parted, 1/4" wide, stalks hairy; inflorescence a spike-like, interrupted cluster (raceme) on a stalk with long, spreading hairs; blooms July-Sept.
Fruits: dry seed with hooked prickles in a top-shaped cluster
Habitat: partial sun; dry to moist; woods, forests
Conservation Status: Native
Plants: erect, perennial, 1'-5' tall forb; stout stems with long hairs
Leaves: once pinnately-divided into 5-9 large leaflets with smaller ones in-between, coarsely toothed, mostly smooth above
Flowers: yellow, 5-parted, 1/4" wide, stalks hairy; inflorescence a spike-like, interrupted cluster (raceme) on a stalk with long, spreading hairs; blooms July-Sept.
Fruits: dry seed with hooked prickles in a top-shaped cluster
Habitat: partial sun; dry to moist; woods, forests
Conservation Status: Native
Upland forests of oak, red maple, pine-hardwoods, oak-hickory, sugar maple-beech-hemlock, aspen-pine, maple-oak, red maple-bur oak-aspen, green ash-white spruce-balsam fir-balsam poplar, aspen-elm-maple-birch, red maple-aspen-birch, sugar maple-hemlock, pine-oak, sugar maple-basswood; floodplain forests and swamps of silver maple-box elder-elm-honey locust, black ash, green ash-basswood-elm, white cedar-white cedar-black ash, especially on edges or along trails and logging roads. Also found in fields, thickets, grassy meadows along streams and rivers, oak savannas, along roadsides and railroads, semi-forested lake dunes, dry-mesic to mesic prairies, wooded bluffs, sedge meadows. This is our most common species, found across the state, especially in the south. Tall agrimony has no doubt become more common in recent years owing to its epizoochoric fruits and preference for edge habitats.
- pincipal leaflets 5–9
- axis of inflorescence, stems, and leaf rachises conspicuously glandular and with long spreading hairs
- bristles of floral tube spreading or reflexed, elongating to as much as 3.5 (–4) mm
- fruiting floral tube top-shaped, often conspicuously grooved
Floristic Rating: Coefficient of Conservatism = 2, Wetland Indicator = FACU+ USDA Plants Database: Federal Distribution and detailed information including photos Southwest School of Botanical Medicine: Britton & Brown Illustrated Flora - 2nd Edition (1913) "An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada"
Kitty Kohout
Christopher Noll
Kenneth J. Sytsma
Kitty Kohout
Merel R. Black
Kenneth J. Sytsma
