Perennial herb to 1 m tall
Stem: single or multiple from base, upright, hollow, unbranched, bristly-hairy.
Leaves: opposite, stalkless, 8 - 18 cm long, 2 - 6 cm wide, lance-shaped to egg-shaped with base narrowing below middle, coarse and hairy above, less hairy beneath.
Flowers: usually solitary in leaf axil. Sepals five, 9 - 12 mm long, linear, elongate, bristly along the margins. Corolla unequally five-lobed, greenish yellow, about 2 cm long, tubular or bell-shaped, base swollen, loosely hairy. Stamens five. Anthers yellow.
Fruit: berry-like (drupe), orangish red, dry. There are three oblong stones inside each drupe.
Similar species: In the Chicago Region, Triosteum angustifolium differs from other Triosteum species by having bristly-hairy stems and hairless sepals with bristly margins.
Flowering: April to May
Habitat and ecology: Moist woods and low ground. Rare in the Chicago Region.
Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native
Etymology: Triosteum comes from the Greek words treis, meaning three, and osteon, meaning "a bone" (in reference to the three stones inside the fruit). Angustifolium means "narrow leaved."
Author: The Morton Arboretum
