Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin - Pedicularis canadensis

Pedicularis canadensis

Family: Orobanchaceae

Canadian lousewort, forest lousewort, wood-betony

[Pedicularis canadensis f. praeclara A. H. Moore]

Christopher Noll

Merel R. Black

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Pedicularis: from the Latin pediculus meaning "louse," referring to the old English belief that when cattle grazed on these plants, they became infested with lice
Plants: erect, perennial, 4"-16" tall forb; short rhizomes forming large clumps, partially parasitic
Leaves: mostly basal then opposite, finely pinnately-toothed; lower leaves with the stalk longer than the blade, upper leaves smaller and almost stalkless
Flowers: yellow (sometimes with a reddish hood), 5-parted, 3/4"-1" long, tubular-shaped, upper lip with 2 small teeth near the hooded tip covering the 4 stamens, lower lip shorter; inflorescence a 1"-2" terminal, leafy, conical spike elongating with age; blooms April-June
Fruits: capsule, opening at the top
Habitat: dry to moderate moisture; prairies, woods, forests

Dry to mesic prairies, open oak-pine woods, oak savannas, bracken grasslands, sometimes in openings in maple-basswood forests and even limestone scarps under white cedar in Door Co.; frequent on steep hillside prairies with sandstone or limestone outcrops.

Throughout the state but absent from the north-central region and most of the area around the southern part of the Niagara Escarpment.