Erect, to 7(–10) dm from slender rhizomes; lvs oblong-ovate, 6–12 cm, usually not more than about half as wide, acuminate, very shallowly sinuate-denticulate, rounded or barely subcordate at base; petioles subterete; infls many-fld, to 2 dm, elongating early so that the open fls as well as the frs are well spaced; pedicels filiform, spreading, finally reflexed, 3–6(–10) mm, glandular-pubescent; sep 2–2.5 mm, glabrous or glandular-pubescent; pet 2.5–4 mm, bilobed less than half-length; anthers 0.7–1 mm; stigma shallowly bilobed; disk prominent, 0.2–0.4 mm high; fr 3.5–5 mm, equally bilocular, each half normally with 3 large and 2 small rounded ridges separated by narrowfurrows; 2n=22. Moist woods, interruptedly circumboreal, in Amer. from N.S. and s. Que. to s. Man., s. to Ga., La., and Okla. June–Aug. Ours is var. canadensis L. (C. quadrisulcata, properly an Asian var.)A sterile but vegetatively vigorous hybrid between our spp. is vegetatively intermediate and has unequally bilocular frs; the infl elongates early as in no. 1 [Circaea lutetiana L.] The name C. ×intermedia Ehrh. was based on the European hybrid C. alpina var. alpina × lutetiana var. lutetiana.
Woods and shady places on a moist, base-rich soil, throughout Britain to 360 metres. Cool-temperate deciduous forests and mixed deciduous-boreal forests; at elevations from near sea level to around 1,500 metres.
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