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Xanthorhiza
Also called Yellowroots
Yellowroot (Xanthorhiza simplicissima) is the only species in its genus, a low woody-stemmed shrub from eastern North America that forms spreading patches in moist, sandy soil. It is grown as a shade-tolerant ground cover valued for its autumn colour.
Xanthorhiza simplicissima (yellowroot) is the only member of the genus Xanthorhiza, and one of very few genera in the family Ranunculaceae with a woody stem (the other notable example being Clematis). It is native to the eastern United States from Maine south to northern Florida and west to Ohio and eastern Texas. It contains the alkaloid berberine, which has a number of traditional and contemporary uses for dyeing and medicine.
The genus name as well as the common name refer to the plant's yellow roots (xantho- meaning "yellow" and rhiza meaning "root"), which was used to produce a yellow dye by Native Americans. The specific epithet refers to the simple (not branched) stems.
Yellowroot is comparatively rare in British gardens, although E.H. Wilson and E.A. Bowles are among distinguished plantsmen to have championed its merits. It was grown by Bowles in his garden at Myddelton House, near Enfield, Middlesex, and gardens that currently cultivate it include the Savill Garden at Windsor, Berkshire and the Westonbirt Arboretum near Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Wilson, who regarded yellowroot as one of the best plants for hardy deciduous ground cover, also described (in 1923) its use in the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University in Massachusetts. It is hardy in USDA winter zones 3 to 9.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Xanthorhiza 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.
