Purple Twisted-Stalk
Streptopus roseus
Family Liliaceae
Characteristics:
* Flowers bell-shaped, hanging, light purple with 6 recurved
petals.
* Fruit a red berry.
* Leaves have no stalks; they grow directly from the zigzag stem.
* Height: 2-3'.
Natural History:
* Flowers May - July.
* Habitat: Deciduous forests, low elevations. Moist alpine meadows.
* Range: Canada, northeastern United States.
* Native.
Connections!
* Purple Twisted-Stalk is also called Scootberry. Why? Read on...
* "Streptopus roseus I learned to call Scootberry long
before I understood why it was so called. The sweetish berries
were quite eagerly eaten by boys, always acting as a physic,
and as the diarrhea was locally called 'the scoots,' the plant
at once received the name."
-Sylvanus Hayward, 1891
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