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Three-leaved Rattlesnake Root (Nabalus trifoliolatus Cass.)

Also known as gall of the earth, gall-of-the-earth, dwarf rattlesnakeroot; also classified as Nabalus nanus (Bigelow) DC., Prenanthes trifoliolata (Cass.) Fernald, Prenanthes nana (Bigelow) Torr. ex DC.

Some authorities separated this taxon into two populations, the main one under the epithet trifoliatus/trifoliata, and a "dwarf" species in NY, NH, and ME, referred to as nanus/nana. However, most modern authorities have merged the two. A few sources recognized the dwarf taxon as a variety, var. nanus/nana, but most modern authorities do not even recognize those. We merge the taxa without recognizing any sub-taxa, per POWO's treatment. Independently of this consideration, this species was moved from the Prenanthes genus into the Nabalus genus; normally it would keep the same epithet, except that in this case, the name Nabalus trifoliolatus Cass. (1825) is older than the name Nabalus nanus (Bigelow) DC. (1838). This situation is the reverse of the names in the other genus: Prenanthes nana (Bigelow) Torr. ex DC. (1838) is older than Prenanthes trifoliolata (Cass.) Fernald (1900). Hence many sources refer to Prenanthes trifoliolata and then reclassify it into Nabalus trifoliolatus.

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Summary
Range
Similar Plants
Notes
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Photos

Photo © Kristof Zyskowski, CC BY 4.0.

↑Summary

Thought to be a monocarpic perennial, native to forests in eastern North America, often on somewhat acidic soils.

↑Range - Expand

Legend	Color
Native or Not Present
Native

This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.

Although this plant occurs somewhere in each of these regions, it may only occur in a small part of some or all of them.

This species is also native to Canada, but we have yet to build this portion of its map.

↑Similar Plants

White Rattlesnakeroot (Nabalus albus)
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Tall Rattlesnakeroot (Nabalus altissimus)
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↑Notes

We prefer the common name "three-leaved rattlesnake root" because it is descriptive, and follows the pattern of a descriptor (three-leaved) that corresponds to the scientific epithet trifoliolatus, whereas "rattlesnake root" refers to the Nabalus genus. The common name "gall of the earth" is also ambiguous as it can also refer to Nabalus serpentaria.