American spikenard

This large, rhizomatous herbaceous perennial produces clusters of fruit and grows between 60 cm and 1.5 m tall. Its leaves emerge directly from an underground rhizome. The rhizome develops like a taproot, similar to a carrot.

The leaf is formed of three parts, which are finely toothed and divided. The inflorescence is hidden under the leaf. It bears small whitish to greenish flowers, arranged in numerous clusters or in panicles.