Ageratina altissima ‘Chocolate’ (White snakeroot)

White snakeroot is a member of the sprawling aster family, and a North American native. This cultivated variety, ‘Chocolate,’ has darker-tinted foliage.

Plants: 3–5′ (91–152 cm) high, and up to 3′ (91 cm) around, with single or multiple stems.

Leaves: 2–5″ (5–12 cm) long, lanceolate, and tapering at both ends; lower leaves are broader, more heart-shaped. Each leaf has three prominent veins and serrated edges. Leaf stems (petioles) are ½–1½″ (1.3–3.8 cm) long.

Flowers: Somewhat dome-shaped clusters, each with 10-30 white brushlike flowers with no petals. Each flower is about ⅛″ (4 mm) around.

Fruits: Tiny black bristled 5-angled achenes equipped with equally tiny parachutes.

Edibility: Poisonous Skull & Crossbones

This plant contains tremetol, toxic to people and many animals. Milk from cows that have eaten snakeroot can be poisonous to people as well—this is called milk sickness.

9/7/2010 · New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Boylston, Massachusetts · ≈ 1 × 2′ (41 × 62 cm)

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Ageratina	Snakeroots
Species	altissima	Means "the highest"

About plant names...

Range: Zones 4a-8b:

About this map...

Ageratina altissima ‘Chocolate’ description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.