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Coptis trifolia
Also called Goldthread, Canker Root, Goldenroot, Yellow Snakeroot, American Goldthread, Savoyana, Three Leaved Goldthread
Threeleaf goldthread is a small, low-growing evergreen perennial that spreads by golden-yellow creeping rhizomes, grown mainly for its shiny leaves and as a woodland groundcover. The key to growing it is cool, moist, shaded conditions with humus-rich soil.
Coptis trifolia, commonly known as the threeleaf goldthread or savoyane, is a perennial plant in the family Ranunculaceae native to North America. A small perennial forb that spreads by slender, creeping rhizomes that are bright golden-yellow in color, hence the common name goldenthread.
It is native to North America and Asia across the subarctic region. Its range is divided into three broad groups. The first is from southern Greenland and Labrador that extends to Manitoba to the west and to the mountains of North Carolina to the south. The second is in Alaska and adjacent areas of British Columbia, extending towards eastern Siberia and into Japan and Manchuria. Records from Norway and central Russia are most likely based on confusion. The disrupted and wide range of the species suggests that the three populations have been isolated from each other for significant periods of time.
The rhizome of the plant was used by several Native American peoples, including many Algonquian peoples and the Haudenosaunee, to relieve canker sores and other ailments of the mouth. This is the source of another common name, canker-root. It has also been used to make a tea that is used as an eyewash, as well as an anthelmintic, antiemetic, emetic, and gastroinestinal aid. Like the medicinal plant goldenseal, goldthread is used to treat symptoms of influenza and the common cold. C. trifolia has been shown to be biologically active against E. coli and Bacillus subtilis. The active compounds of C. trifolia are the alkaloids berberine and coptine.
Chinese Goldthread · Japanese Goldthread · Indian Goldthread · Goldthread
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Coptis trifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
