Osmorhiza claytonii

Osmorhiza claytonii, sweet cicely or hairy sweetroot, is a perennial herb of the Apiaceae native to deciduous and mixed forests of eastern and central North America. Plants are 30 to 90 cm tall with slender, hairy stems arising from a thickened, anise- or licorice-scented taproot. The leaves are alternate, twice or thrice ternately compound, with broadly ovate leaflets that are softly hairy and irregularly toothed. Small white flowers are borne in sparse, few-rayed compound umbels in late spring; they lack an involucre but have small involucels of bristle-like bractlets. The fruit is a slender, elongate, black schizocarp covered with stiff upward-pointing bristles that cling to fur and clothing for dispersal. The species is characteristic of rich, moist hardwood understories.