Water avens (Geum rivale)

Features and Characteristics

Geum rivale, commonly known as water avens, purple avens or chocolate root, is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial of the rose family that typically thrives in boggy areas including wet meadows and swamps. It is native to Eurasia and North America (Labrador to British Columbia south to New Jersey, West Virginia, northern Illinois, Minnesota and in the mountains to New Mexico). It typically grows to 8-18” tall and features showy, nodding, bell-shaped, 5-petaled flowers (to 1/2”), 2 to 5 flowers per stem, which bloom late spring into summer (late May to early August) and compound dark green leaves. The brownish-purple calyx of each flower surrounds its cream to purple-pink petals. Each pinnate leaf has 3 to 6 pairs of small, lateral, unequally-toothed leaflets (1/4 – 3/4”), with a very large terminal leaflet (1-2” diameter) which is usually over twice the size of the lateral leaflets. Good ground cover for cool wet areas where many other plants often struggle. Will grow well in non-boggy areas as long as soils are kept consistently moist.

Genus name is the classical Latin name of the group.

Specific epithet means growing by streams.

If plant rhizomes are boiled in water, the resulting liquid has a faint taste of chocolate, hence the common name of chocolate root.