2.
Mitella diphylla
Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 406. 1753.
Two-leaf mitrewort, mitrelle deux feuilles
Plants
not stoloniferous.
Flowering stems
10-45(-51) cm.
Leaves:
petiole 1.8-18 cm, medium and long stipitate-glandular, longer hairs retrorse, white or tan; blade ovate to broadly ovate, n as long as or longer than wide, 1.4-8.5 × 1.4-9.6 cm, margins shallowly to prominently 3- or 5-lobed, crenate or dentate, irregularly to regularly ciliate, apex of terminal lobe acute, rarely obtuse, surfaces subglabrous or sparsely short and long stipitate-glandular; cauline leaves 2, mid cauline or distal, opposite or subopposite, subsessile to short-petiolate, blade (1.1-)1.6-8 × 0.7-6.5 cm.
Inflorescences
1-5, remotely or closely 5-22(-27)-flowered, 1 flower per node, not secund, 10-45(-51) cm, sparsely to densely spreading or retrorsely long stipitate-glandular proximally, short stipitate-glandular distally.
Pedicels
1-3 mm, short stipitate-glandular.
Flowers:
hypanthium broadly campanulate, 1-1.6 × 2-3.4 mm; sepals spreading, greenish white or yellowish green, triangular, 1-1.3 × 0.8-1.1 mm; petals white, 9-11(-15)-lobed, 2-4 mm, lobes linear, lateral lobes spreading or ascending; stamens 10, opposite and alternate with sepals; filaments white, 0.2-0.3 mm; anthers 0.1-0.3 × 0.1-0.2 mm; ovary nearly superior; styles divergent, flattened, 0.1-0.2 mm; stigmas unlobed.
Seeds
dark reddish brown or blackish, 1.2-1.6 mm, nearly smooth.
2
n
= 14.
Flowering Apr-Jun. Rich woods, hardwoods on ravine slopes; 300-2000 m; Ont., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.
A decoction from whole plants of
Mitella diphylla
was used by the Iroquois as an emetic, eye medicine, and good-luck charm; seeds were used by the Menominee as sacred items in medicine dances (D. E. Moerman 1998).
Mitella intermedia
T. A. Bruhin ex Small & Rydberg is a presumed interspecific hybrid between
M. diphylla
and
M. nuda
. It has been reported from New York and Wisconsin.
