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Streptopus amplexifolius
Also called Cucumber root, Clasping twisted stalk, Clasp-leaf twisted-stalk, Clasping Twistedstalk, Clasp Twisted Stalk, Clasping Leaved Twisted Stalk, Liverberry
A low, creeping woodland perennial with wiry, kinked stems and sweet, cucumber-flavoured shoots and berries, native across the cool northern temperate zone. It thrives in cool, moist, shaded ground such as stream banks and thickets.
Streptopus amplexifolius (twistedstalk, clasping twistedstalk, claspleaf twistedstalk, white twisted-stalk, or watermelon berry) is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae, native to North America, Europe and Asia.
It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 40–100 cm tall, with alternate, oblong-lanceolate leaves 5–14 cm long. The greenish-white flowers hang from axils on 1–2 cm thin kinked pedicels, each flower with six white tepals, 9–15 mm long. The plants leaves completely encircle the stem, and the stems have a kink at each leaf axil giving the plants stem a "twisted" and wiry appearance. The plants grow in a creeping habit in moist, dense undergrowth.
Streptopus amplexifolius is widely distributed across North America (Greenland, northern United States including Alaska; and most of Canada including Yukon and Northwest Territories). The plant is most often found near shaded stream banks and in moist thickets of the montane and subalpine zones across most of North America. It is also found in central and southern Europe (from Spain to Ukraine and as far north as Germany and Poland) and in eastern Asia (Japan, Korea, Myanmar (Burma) and eastern Russia (Yakutia, Amur, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands, Khabarovsk, Primorye)).
Streptopus amplexifolius was used as a food plant by Native Americans in Eastern North America and as a medicine. The plant was referred to by early settlers of Eastern and Western North America as "wild cucumber" and as "scoot berries" for the mildly laxative effects of the berries if they are eaten in excessive quantities.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Streptopus amplexifolius 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.
