Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin

Geum rivale L.

Family: Rosaceae

purple avens, water avens

Robert W. Freckmann

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Geum: an ancient Latin name used by Pliny for this group
Plants: erect, perennial, 1'-2' tall forb
Leaves: basal leaves to 12", 3-5 parted; end leaflet oval to roundish, toothed and 3-lobed; stem leaves much smaller
Flowers: purple, 5-parted, 1/2"-3/4" long, bell-shaped, petals yellowish with purple veins and a little shorter than the purple sepals; inflorescence of several nodding flowers in an open cluster; blooms May-July
Fruits: hooked, dry, spreading seeds
Habitat: wet; meadows, forests, swamps
Conservation Status: Native

Swamps of tamarack-black spruce, white cedar-green ash, white cedar-black ash-balsam fir; upland forests on seepy river slopes of white cedar-birch-aspen, yellow birch-basswood-white pine-black ash. Boggy lakeshores, boreal rich fens, sedge meadows, old dune swales, roadside ditches, alder thickets, wet meadows and fields. Mainly in the eastern and northern parts of the state but rather scattered and local; a few isolated localities in the Driftless Area.