9.
Mitella trifida
Graham, Edinburgh New Philos. J. 7: 185. 1829.
Pacific mitrewort
Mitella trifida
var
. violacea
(Rydberg) Rosendahl;
Ozomelis anomola
(Piper) Rydberg;
O. micrantha
(Piper) Rydberg;
O. trifida
(Graham) Rydberg
Plants
not stoloniferous.
Flowering stems
12-45 cm.
Leaves:
petiole 2.5-10 cm, subglabrous or short stipitate-glandular and long stipitate-glandular, longer hairs retrorse, white, tan, or brown; blade cordate, cordate-ovate, or reniform, usually shorter than or sometimes ± as long as wide, 1.2-6 × 2-8 cm, margins shallowly 5- or 7-lobed, crenate, uniformly ciliate, apex of terminal lobe rounded to obtuse, surfaces short stipitate-glandular and sparsely long stipitate-glandular; cauline leaves absent.
Inflorescences
1-3, closely 4-20-flowered, 1 flower per node, weakly secund or not secund, 12-45 cm, short stipitate-glandular and, sometimes, sparsely long stipitate-glandular proximally and distally.
Pedicels
0.3-1.5 mm, short stipitate-glandular.
Flowers:
hypanthium campanulate, 1-1.5 × 1.5-2.5(-3) mm; sepals erect or spreading, whitish or purple tinged, oblong to triangular-ovate, 0.8-1.5 × 1-1.3 mm; petals white, sometimes pink or purple tinged, 3-lobed or, sometimes, unlobed, 1-3.5 mm, lobes lanceolate, lateral lobes ascending; stamens 5, opposite sepals; filaments white, 0.1-0.2 mm; anthers 0.1-0.2 × 0.1-0.2 mm; ovary ca. 1/2 inferior; styles divergent, flattened, 0.1-0.2 mm; stigmas unlobed.
Seeds
dark reddish brown, 0.7-1 mm, pitted.
2
n
= 14.
Flowering May-Jul. Deep forest, moist wooded and open slopes; 300-2000 m; Alta., B.C.; Alaska, Calif., Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash.
Mitella trifida
varies in flower size, petal-blade lobing, and pubescence. Plants with relatively small flowers and petal blades entire or shallowly trifid and often purplish have been named var.
violacea
. Plants matching this description occur in British Columbia, Montana, and Washington and appear to represent a minor morphological variant that does not warrant recognition.
The Gosiute Indians of Utah made an infusion from roots of
Mitella trifida
to treat colic (D. E. Moerman 1998).
