OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Rosales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Gillenia trifoliata   FAMILY Rosaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Gillenia trifoliata   FAMILY Rosaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 9 (2014)

Gillenia trifoliata

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)

Porteranthus trifoliatus

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 097-13-001:

Gillenia trifoliata   FAMILY Rosaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Porteranthus trifoliatus

 

COMMON NAME:
Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_potr11_001_lvd

        

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm100514_172

May    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

The hypanthium (formed from fusion of sepals, petals & stamens) is turbinate, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm210523_0711

May    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

Five linear, slightly twisted, unequal petals, per Wild Flowers of NC, 1st edition.

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm210523_0712

May    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

A reddish, tubular, 5-lobed calyx that persists after flowers drop, per Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019).

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm210523_0713

May    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm230523_3343

May    Greenville County    SC

Watson-Cooper Heritage Preserve

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

Keith Bradley    kab_g_trifoliata_0049

June    Burke County    NC

Pisgah National Forest

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    s080621_a

June    Transylvania County    NC

DuPont State Forest

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    s090613_a

June    Greenville County    SC

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

Three narrow leaflets, 2-4" long, that taper at both ends, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE leaves of Bowman's Root and Indian Physic

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm080726_094

July    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm190704_9768

July    Jackson County    NC

Foothills Trail

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm230713_4393

July    Greenville County    SC

Watson-Cooper Heritage Preserve

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm080802_055

August    Jackson County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

Capsules 4.5-5mm long, pubescent to glabrate, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm0410p_04

October    Oconee County    SC

Roadside

The reddish hypanthium may cause flowers to appear pinkish at a distance, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).

image of Gillenia trifoliata, Bowman's Root, Mountain Indian Physic, Fawn's Breath

JK Marlow    jkm201015_7696

October    Transylvania County    NC

DuPont State Forest

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Gillenia trifoliata   FAMILY Rosaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Gillenia trifoliata   FAMILY Rosaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 9
Gillenia trifoliata

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Porteranthus trifoliatus

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 097-13-001:
Gillenia trifoliata   FAMILY Rosaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Porteranthus trifoliatus

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

612

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Moist forests, roadbanks, forest edges, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common (uncommon in Piedmont of GA & SC)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Palmately compound: 3 leaflets
Alternate
Leaves subsessile

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White
Radially symmetrical
5-lobed calyx
5 petals
20 stamens (enclosed in the throat of the hypanthium)

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Capsule

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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