Enchanter's Nightshade, Circaea lutetiana L. ssp. canadensis[Circaea quadrisulcata], Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, Broadleaf Enchanter's Nightshade

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Enchanter's Nightshade	Circaea lutetiana ssp. canadensis (L.) Asch. & Magnus [formerly - Circaea quadrisulcata]	Evening Primrose (Onagraceae)	Woodland & Upland	Early Summer to Early Autumn
Other names and notes	(Broadleaf Enchanter's Nightshade) This plant has small (1/4" to 1/3") 2-parted white to pinkish flowers on a raceme along which the flowers are on long stalks and somewhat evenly spaced. The leaves are are opposite, oblong to egg shaped with long stalks and with shallow teeth, leaf width is no more than 1/2 the length. The plant is usually 1 to 2 feet in height. The flowers have two petals deeply lobed. Numerous plants can occur in a given area of the Garden as the plant spreads by creeping rootstocks. The genus name Circaea is after Circe, the enchantress of the old classics.


Above and below: Note the opposite leaves on long stalks	Above and far below: Flowers of early July. Note the deeply notched two petals of the flower and the hairy flower stalk, which at seed maturity (below) will allow the seed capsule to stick to passing creatures.

Notes: Eloise Butler catalogued the Dwarf Enchanter's Nightshade, C. alpina, as present in the Garden on her list of Sept. 6, 1907. Martha Crone listed both species as present on her 1951 inventory of plants in the Garden at that time. The difference being the height of the plant and more coarsely toothed leaves on the Dwarf. C. lutetiana is native to most counties in Minnesota except the far NE, NW corners and the SW area where it is too dry. C. alpina is more prevalent in the NE quadrant of the state and in a few SE counties. The species name as C. lutetiana, is a recent reclassification.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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