Leaves: Large, thin, bright green,
compounded of (mostly) 7 principal oblong, coarsely saw-edged
leaflets, with pairs of tiny leaflets between.
Preferred Habitat - Woods, thickets, edges of fields.
Flowering Season - June-August.
Distribution - North Carolina, westward to California, and far
north.
Quite a different species, not found in this country, is the
common European Agrimony - A. Eupatoria of Linnaeus - which
figures so prominently in the writings of medieval herbalists as
a cure-all. Slender spires of green fruit below and yellow
flowers above curve and bend at the borders of woodlands here
apparently for no better reason than to enjoy life. Very few
insects visit them, owing to the absence of nectar - certainly
not the highly specialized and intelligent "Humble-Bee," to whom
Emerson addressed the lines:
"Succory to match the sky,
Columbine with horn of honey,
Scented fern and agrimony,
Clover, catch-fly, adder's-tongue,
And brier-roses, dwelt among.
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