Trautvetteria caroliniensis - False bugbane

• Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family) ^{[IFBC-E-Flora]}

• General: "Perennial herb from widespread slender rhizomes and tufts of fibrous roots; stems 1 to several, erect, 50-80 (100) cm tall, unbranched below inflorescence, smooth or becoming so. " ^{[IFBC-E-Flora]}
• Leaves: "Basal leaves simple, long-stalked (to 45 cm), 10-30 cm wide, palmately 5- to 11-lobed, the segments broadly wedge-shaped, margins irregularly cut to sharp-toothed, the veins conspicuous, smooth above, usually somewhat hairy and paler below; stem leaves 1 or 2, alternate, short-stalked, reduced toward top of stem. " ^{[IFBC-E-Flora]}
• Flowers: " Inflorescence many-flowered, terminal, somewhat flat-topped clusters, the stalks of the inflorescence 10-50 cm tall, the bracts small, linear-lanceolate; petals absent; sepals 3-5 (-7), greenish-white, concave-cupped, broadly egg-shaped, clawed, 3-6 mm long; stamens 50-100, the filaments white, 5-10 mm long, the outer ones 15-20 and narrowly spoon-shaped, the inner not dilated; pistils about 15. " ^{[IFBC-E-Flora]}
• Fruits: "Achene-like utricles in a cluster, papery, 3-4 mm long, prominently veined on the 4 angles, unstalked; beaks 0.4-0.8 mm long, curved or hooked. " ^{[IFBC-E-Flora]}

Status: Native ^{[IFBC-E-Flora]}

Habitat/Range

• "Moist forests in the lowland and montane zones; common on Vancouver Island, infrequent on mainland coast north to 53^oN, rare in SE BC; S to MO, PA, FL, NM, AZ, ID, OR and CA." ^{[IFBC-E-Flora]}
• U.S.; "Sw. PA and KY to GA, AL, and Panhandle FL, primarily in the Southern and Central Appalachians, disjunct on calcareous sites in AR (Sundell et al. 1999), e. TX (Floden 2011), IN, IL, and MO." [Weakley FSMAS]

Lookalikes:

• Boykinia - " Sometimes mistaken in vegetative condition for Trautvetteria, which is a coarser plant, often occupying similar habitats." [Weakley FSMAS]

Hazards

• "Protoanemonin (85) yielding compounds are known to occur in the genera... Trautvetteria..."

Medicinal Use

• Dermatological Aid: " This species was used by the Bella Coola as a dermatological aid, and a poultice of the roots was applied to boils (Moerman 1986)." [Vizgirdas WPSN] "False bugbane, like other plants in the buttercup family, contains an irritant compound, protoanemonin. which causes redness and blistering when the leaves are applied to the skin. The Nuxalk pounded the roots in water and prepared a poultice to treat boils, but it caused intensive burning and blistering and so was not used on children." [PCBC] The soft bark of Chamaecyparis nootkatensis was used as a cover for poultices of Trautvetteria grandis and Ranunculus acris. [Moerman]
  

TRAUTVETTERIA

Bruce D. Parfitt & Dieter H. Wilken

Perennial herb from rhizomes; roots generally clustered. Stem: generally 1, erect, simple. Leaf: basal and cauline, few, alternate, simple, round to reniform, deeply palmately lobed. Inflorescence: panicle, ± flat-topped, terminal. Flower: sepals 3–7, petal-like; petals 0; stamens 50–100; pistils 10–16, ovule 1, style persistent, ± hooked or coiled. Fruit: ± utricle; wall papery, shiny, veined or ribbed.
1 sp.: temperate North America, eastern Asia. (E.R. von Trautvetter, Russian botanist, 1809–1889) [Parfitt 1997 FNANM 3: 138–139]

[Jepson]

References

• E-flora - Trautvetteria caroliniensis - http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Trautvetteria%20caroliniensis, Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2017. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed: 05/06/2018 5:31:07 PM ]
• Jepson -
• UMDETH
• [1] Smith, Harlan I. 1929 Materia Medica of the Bella Coola and Neighboring Tribes of British Columbia. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 56:47-68 (p. 57)