Sanicula marilandica

Snakeroot

Two Mericarps

Moose Mountain Provincial Park
22-Aug-2009

The fruit of this species is a schizocarp.  This type of fruit splits into sub-fruits called mericarps.  The schizocarp in this photo has split naturally into two mericarps.  The face by which the two mericarps are joined together in the schizocarp is called the commissure.

Sanicula: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora (BF)  and Flora of Alberta (FOA) leading to this genus. 

NOT [plants with a bluish tinge; flowers in dense globose heads; bracts spiny] (FOA)

foliage NOT spiny

leaves palmate with 5-7 large leaflets; NOT [leaves pinnate, trifoliate, or simple]

plants LACKING axillary bulblets

inflorescence NOT bluish

fruit covered with short, hooked spines

 

Umbelliferae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this family.

herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

plants terrestrial or semiaquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]

plants NOT with colored milky juice

stems hollow

plants with more than one normal leaf

some or all leaves alternate; NOT [leaves opposite, whorled, or basal]

leaves without stipules, or having glands; NOT [leaves with stipules]

flowers in umbels

flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others

parts of flowers mostly in fives; NOT [parts of flowers in twos or fours]

calyx regular; NOT [calyx irregular, some sepals smaller than others]

stamens 10 or fewer; NOT [stamens usually more than 10]

styles 2; NOT [styles 5]

ovary inferior; NOT [ovary superior]