Armoracia rusticana (Horse-radish) - photos and description
Upper stem leaf in above photo.
Leaf mid stem in above photo.
Basal leaf in above photo.
General: Stout plants, much branched, with stems hollow at their base. Plants glabrous.
Flowers: Flowers white, 4 petals and 6 stamens. We measured a flower at 10 mm diameter. Flowers grow in axillary and terminal dense panicles. Flowers with a slight fragrance.
Leaves: We observed three types of leaves - 1) basal leaves are large with long petioles, oblanceolate, have rounded teeth, basal leaf highlighted in photo above was 15.5 cm long by 5 cm wide; 2) leaves lower to mid stem are linear, lobed to the midrib, leaf mid stem highlighted above was 10.5 cm long by 2 cm wide; 3) leaves upper stem are linear with irregular teeth, leaf upper stem highlighted above was 11.5 cm long by 9 mm wide. Most of the basal leaves were rotted off by water in the ditch where they were growing. In other settings (e.g. a garden) you can see photos of this plant with numerous, huge basal leaves. Stem leaves alternate, sessile.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 100 cm, we measured plants to 76 cm tall.
Habitat: Along roadsides and moist areas.
Abundance: Listed as fairly common in Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Saskatchewan.
Origin: Introduced.
When and where photographed: The above photos were taken May 24th, wet ditch beside grid road, about 30 km east of our home in Regina, SK.