Seneca Snakeroot
Polygala senega
Seneca snakeroot, a slim prairie and open-woodland perennial with a tapered spike of small greenish-white flowers. Long and heavily harvested as a medicinal root, which is why wild stands thinned; garden-grown plants take pressure off them. Slow from seed, then long-lived.
- Family
- Polygalaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 0.5–1.5 ft
- Spacing
- 0.3–0.8 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry, moist
- Soil pH
- neutral
- Bloom
- June, July
- Bloom colors
- white, green
- Wildlife value
- pollinators
- Landscape uses
- naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV, WY