Bright Red Berry in July - What is This?

[Phil_and_Gayle]

As I was walking in the woods this week I thought "Wow, I don't remember May Apples having those bright red berries on them!" Upon further investigation, I determined that they weren't May Apples at all. After an unfruitful internet search, I've come to the forum for assistance. This plant has double leaves like May Apples, but nearly always, one leaf is smaller than the other and most often the red berry is on the smaller leaf. Also, May Apple leaves have seven lobes while each of these leaves have only five lobes. The stem is not smooth like the May Apple either; it has many tiny "hairs" that make it feel fuzzy. The first picture is a little misleading as there really are two leaves shown. Successive pictures show the red fruit/seed(?) closer up. The last picture shows the stem end as it looked when I pulled one out of the ground. These grow in patches in our eastern Missouri timber, in moderately dense shade, in areas that are fairly well drained. Each plant is about 12"-24" tall and I can't get it out of my mind. WHAT IS IT?

[Chris_W]

Hi Guys,

Took me a couple searches, but is Hydrastis canadensis, common name is goldenseal. Here is some info on it:

http://www.missouriplants.com/Whitealt/ ... _page.html

[Phil_and_Gayle]

Thank you Chris - I usually follow the Hosta forum pretty closely; I guess now I'll be checking out the other forums too! I'm curious as to how you performed your internet search. I couldn't find anything that was helpful. You can be sure that I will be bookmarking http://www.missouriplants.com for future reference. Again - thank you so much. You are truly a wealth of information! Gayle

[Chris_W]

Hi, The internet is a wealth of information actually!

I dig a search on google images for "woodland plant palmate leaf" and this popped up on the first page. But I think that was my 5th or 6th try with different keywords

[gamekeeper]

Neat plant would enjoy in my shade garden,which is turning into my favorite spot.Thanks for the lesson Chris.