Wild ginger – Asarum caudatum

At a Glance

• Family: Aristolochiaceae
• Plant type: herb/forb
• Distribution: Pacific Coast northern California up through British Columbia, east to northern Idaho and western Montana
• Habitat: shady understory places in mostly late succession coniferous forests, moist, high organic soil with good drainage
• Height: 3-6″
• Reproduction: spreads through rhizomes and seeds
• Flowers: dark purple flowers, 3-lobes that taper at the ends, 3-8cm long
• Flowering season: April-July
• Leaves: evergreen heart-shaped leaves with distinct venation, dark green color, trailing hairy stems
• Generation: perennial
• Notable features: leaves and roots smell like ginger when crushed

Ethnobotany/Commercial Use

• Squamish people chewed and ate the leaves to treat tuberculosis, used it as a protective wash when bathing, and believed wild ginger to be a good luck charm
• The Skokomish drank wild ginger leaf tea as an emetic and to settle the stomach
• Makes a good garden plant as it grows easily and provides a lot of ground cover

Resources

• https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=276758&isprofile=0
• NAEB: http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=asarum+caudatum
• Pojar, Jim, and A. MacKinnon. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska. Lone Pine, 1994, p317.
• WTU: https://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Asarum%20caudatum

For questions regarding the EERC Native Plant Guided Tour, contact Sarah at severlin@uw.edu.