Herbs, perennial; roots fibrous; rhizomes present or not. Stems erect, glabrous.

Leaves: deciduous, basal, rarely also cauline, alternate, petiolate; ocrea sometimes deciduous, chartaceous; blade reniform to orbiculate-cordate, margins entire to obscurely wavy.

Inflorescences: terminal, paniclelike or racemelike, pedunculate. Pedicels present.

Flowers: bisexual, (1-)3-7 per ocreate fascicle, base stipelike; perianth nonaccrescent, greenish to reddish brown, campanulate, glabrous; tepals 4, in 2 whorls of 2, distinct, sepaloid, dimorphic, outer 2 narrower than inner 2; stamens (2-)6; filaments distinct, free, glabrous; anthers white to red or deep purple, elliptic to ovate; styles 2, spreading, distinct; stigmas penicillate.

Achenes: exserted, yellowish to tan, winged, lenticular, glabrous. Seeds: embryo straight or curved. x = 7.

Fls perfect; tep 2 + 2, the inner broader; stamens 6, about equaling the tep; ovary flattened, with 2 short, divergent styles, the stigmas tufted; fr a flat achene surrounded by a broad, radially striate wing, cordate at base, subtended by the persistent, slightly enlarged tep, the 2 outer spreading, linear-oblong, the inner appressed, obovate-spatulate; perennial glabrous herbs with a stout, multicipital root, bearing several basal and few cauline lvs on long petioles, the blade broadly cordate to reniform; fls minute, in branching panicles; foliage acid. Monospecific.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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