Xantho (yellow) rhiza (root) simplicissima (most simple, as the stems are unbranched) — what a wonderful name!! — is a very interesting, deciduous, rhizomatous subshrub native to shady, damp depressions and stream banks in wooded habitats throughout the mountains and piedmonts of our Southeastern states. It has lacy foliage to a height of up to about 30 inches on the upright, woody stems, and in April and May, tiny, sweet, purple/chocolate brown and yellow star-shaped flowers dangle in terminal clusters. The suckering roots, which are an amazing bright yellow, spread the colony outward, creating a hardy, attractive, lacy, tall groundcover effortlessly. Yellowroot is extremely adaptable with respect to both soil and light and can fill problem sun-to-shade transition areas, providing cover for ground-nesting birds and small critters. The seed heads of Yellowroot maintain the lacy appearance of the flowers and persist into the winter, providing sustenance for those critters. The roots were used by native americans to make dye and the root itself was also chewed upon for a numbing-effect and other medicinal qualities.
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Xanthorhiza simplicissima
Key Info
Scientific Name: Xanthorhiza simplicissima Marshall
Common Names: Yellowroot, Brook-Feather Parsley-leaved Yellowroot, Scurvyroot, Yellow wort
Family Names: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family)
Plant Type: Subshrub
Leaf Retention: Deciduous
Flower Color: Purple/chocolate brown
Special Characteristics: Tolerates shade, Tolerates drought, Good wildlife cover/habitat, Long lived, Medicinal value, Good fall color, Rhizomatous, Tolerates cold, Tolerates some flooding, Ornamental foliage
Additional Info
Habit: This plant is composed of upright, unbranched stems arising from a fibrous, suckering, shallow root system. The bark is thin and smooth, brownish gray (inner bark yellow), foliage is parsley-like, of medium texture.
Height: 1-3'
Spread: Indeterminate
Soil Conditions: Prefers moist, well drained, acid, loamy soils, but tolerates both heavy (clay) and light (sandy) soils as well.
Leaves: The alternate, pinnately compound leaves, 4-10 inches long, have long petioles and usually bear five sharply lobed and toothed, 1-3-inch leaflets that sometimes divide again pinnately. The leaves, which cluster at the shoot tip, emerge as a bronze-purple color, changing to a bright green as they grow. They turn bright yellow in fall, then redish-purple, and finally are held into winter as tan.
Flowers (or reproductive structures: Before and just after the leaves emerge, pendulous sprays of tiny, perfect, maroon flowers sprout from the base of the current year's growth (near the ends of the stem), initially erect, then drooping in panicles two to eight inches long. Each flower is small, star-shaped, with five reddish -brown to purple-brown sepals (there are no actual petals).
Fruit: A star-shaped cluster of follicles, initially green and fleshy, drying and turning yellowish, lustrous, flattish, splitting open when ripe. Seeds are solitary, reddish, ovoid.
Natural Distribution: Damp woods, shaded stream banks.
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 to 9
USDA Wetland Indicator Status in NC: FACW
Pollination: Very little info on this. "probably not bees. . . .gnats and flies, maybe?" (Louis the Plant Geek)
Wildlife Connections: Yellowroot provides understory habitat and food where few other plants can survive; upland game birds, song birds, and small animals feed on the fruit.
Propagation: Yellowroot is most easily propagated by division, but it can also be grown from fresh seed sown in the fall.