White avens are North American native plants. They are members of the rose family.
Plants: 1½-2½′ (45-76 cm) tall. Lower stems
have coarse hairs and a brownish color, becoming softer-haired and lighter in color toward the top.
Leaves: Lobed, looking a bit like a rounded maple leaf, or sometimes split into three separate leaflets
like strawberry leaves. The basal leaves are trifoliate.
They have long stems (petioles), and they are toothed, with sharp or rounded teeth.
Flowers: White, with five rather sparse-looking, rounded petals appearing between a five-pointed
green star of sepals. The sepals are shorter than the petals.
Fruits: Burlike in appearance, like a little ball of velcro, though if you take
a close look, the tips of the achenes, though bent, are not hooked to hitch a ride the
way burs are. The fruits are the most easily noticed features of this plant, perched atop long
stems.
1½-2½′ (45-76 cm) tall. Lower stems have coarse hairs and a brownish color, becoming softer-haired and lighter in color toward the top.
Flowers
White, with five rather sparse-looking, rounded petals appearing between a five-pointed green star of sepals. The sepals are shorter than the petals.
Leaves
Lobed, looking a bit like a rounded maple leaf, or sometimes split into three separate leaflets like strawberry leaves. The basal leaves are trifoliate. They have long stems (petioles), and they are toothed, with sharp or rounded teeth.
Fruit
Burlike in appearance, like a little ball of velcro, though if you take a close look, the tips of the achenes, though bent, are not hooked to hitch a ride the way burs are. The fruits are the most easily noticed features of this plant, perched atop long stems.