Cryptotaenia canadensis

Sizes available: HPP #1, 3 plants per pot

Basics: zones 4-8, 12-30" x 12-24", part sun to part shade, delicate white blooms in mid-summer, can grow in medium-wet to medium-dry soils, likes nutritious woodland soils and is adaptable to some drought in it's shadier habitats.

Common names: Canada Honewort, Wild Chervil, Umbelweed

Family: Apiaceae

Origin/Distribution: From Manitoba east to New Brunswick, south to Florida and up into North Dakota, native to Maine.

Habitat: low, wet ground, shady and moist, stream edge, mostly woodland, sometimes floodplain

More: Cryptotaenia canadensis is an attractive, lush, adaptable, strong grower that may out-compete Garlic Mustard and will probably self-seed. I wouldn't plant it with delicate spring ephemerals, but there are numerous places where its charismatic and robust tendencies might be useful. It will offer cool habitat and cover for small mammals and amphibians. The young leaves and stems are edible, prepared by boiling or sautéing and also chopped up fine as a garnish akin to parsley. The roots can be cooked and eaten and are similar to parsnip. The seeds are also edible and used as a spice. 

Canada Honewort is a host plant for the Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio polyxenes asterius, which is native to Maine. The flowers support numerous native bees, flies, and wasps, including Sweat bees, Masked bees, Adrenid bees, Ichneumonid wasps, Wild carrot wasps, Syrphid flies, and Thick-headed flies. All of these insect families have members in Maine. And let's not forget the beetles! These families, present in Maine, use Canada Honewort, too: Long-horned beetles, Cerambycidae, Leaf beetles, Chrysomelidae, and Tumbling Flower beetles, Mordellidae.

Nursery: grown from seed by Honey Petal Plants - seed from Toadshade Wildflower Farm or Prairie Moon

Image credits: Prairie Moon Nursery