About Sanicula crassicaulis Poepp. ex DC.
Sanicula crassicaulis Poepp. ex DC. is a perennial herb that grows a thick stem up to 1.2 meters tall from a taproot. Its leaf blades can reach up to 13 centimeters in length, are divided into several deep lobes, and have small teeth along their edges. The inflorescence consists of one or more heads that hold both bisexual and male-only flowers, which have tiny, curving yellow petals; flowers of the variety tripartita may be yellow, brown, or purple. Each flower head has roughly five leaflike, lance-shaped bracts at its base. The rounded fruits are a few millimeters long, covered in curving prickles, and grow in small clusters. This species has an amphitropical distribution, and is native to the west coast of North America and southern South America. In North America, its range extends from British Columbia to Baja California, where it grows in many habitat types including mountain slopes, grassland, and woodlands. In South America, it occurs from Coquimbo Region to Los Lagos Region in Chile, and in Chubut Province, Neuquén Province, and Mendoza Province in Argentina. It has also been introduced to the Juan Fernández Islands, where it is invasive.
