Ageratina altissima (L.) R.M. King & H. Rob.

Common White Snakeroot; Common Milk Poison

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Common White Snakeroot is a native herbaceous perennial in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to the northern 3/4’s of Alabama. Common White Snakeroot occurs along streams, in moist hardwood forests, in prairie woods, and in hardwood ravines. It is a perennial with a short rhizome or woody crown. The stems are erect, 2-5 feet in height, pubescent, green in color, and branched above the middle. Leaves are opposite, petiolate, ovate to lanceolate in outline, doubly serrate, 3-nerved from the base, and glabrous or slightly pubescent. The flowers are produced in heads. The heads are arranged in corymbs. Each head has 5 white disc flowers and no ray flowers. The fruit is an achene. Common White snakeroot contains the toxic compound tremetol which causes trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain when the plant is consumed. If the plant is consumed by cattle, the toxin can be passed to humans through the milk causing Milk sickness. Milk sickness was possibly the cause of death of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of Abraham Lincoln. Common White Snakeroot is available from some wildflower nurseries. It prefers a location with partial shade and moist, humus-rich soil.—A. Diamond

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Native FACU (NWPL)

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