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Plant Profile: Water Avens (Geum rivale)

Also known as purple avens, and chocolate root, is herbaceous perennial is a member of the rose family, Rosaceae, that also includes cherry, almond, and lady’s mantle.  It is native to Eurasia and north central US where it grows in bogs, marshes, wet meadows and other damp to wet sites.  Plants grow 8-18″ tall from a fibrous, rhizomatous root system and form dense clumps with dark green pinnately compound leaves.  Each leaf has 3-6 lateral  serrated leaflets  .5-1″ across and a large terminal leaflet twice the size of the lateral leaflets.  All the leaflets are serrated and hairy. Nodding, bell-shaped flowers  appear in cymes of 2-5 per stem, from late spring to mid summer. The branches of the cymes are purple and hairy and the flowers consist of a brownish-purple hairy calyx and 5 dull red to pink heavily veined petal surrounding numerous pistils and stamens with yellow anthers.  The fruit is dry and one-seeded (achene).  Plants like cool temperatures and do poorly in the South.  The genus name, Geum,  is the ancient Latin name for the plant.  The specific epithet, rivale, comes from the Latin word rivalis meaning a person using the same stream as another, and refers to the favorite type of habit of the plant.  The common name, chocolate root, comes from the fact that when the rootstock is boiled the resultant liquid has a slightly chocolate flavor.  

Type: Herbaceous perennial

Bloom: Cymes of 2-5 dull red to pink flowers with brownish-purple calyx from late spring to mid summer

Size: 8-18″ H x 10″ W

Light:Full sun to partial shade

Soil:Average, moist to wet

Hardiness: Zones 3-7

Care: Deadhead to prolong bloom time

Pests and Diseases: Powdery mildew, downy mildew

Propagation: Seed, division

Companion Plants: Astilbes, Euphorbia palustris, Primula pulverulenta, Caltha palustris (marsh marigold)

Outstanding Selections: ‘Leonard’s Variety’ (double wine red flowers)

Photo Credit: Wikimedia