Crinkleroot | Toothwort | Pepper root

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Rootstock. - Five to ten inches long, wrinkled, crisp, of pleasant, pungent taste. Stem. - Leafless below, bearing two leaves above. Leaves. - Divided into three toothed leaflets. Flowers. - White, in a terminal cluster. Pod. - Flat and lance-shaped.

The crinkleroot has been valued - not so much on account of its pretty flowers which may be found in the rich May woods - but for its crisp edible root which has lent savor to many a simple luncheon in the cool shadows of the forest.

It is typified by a four petal flower which blooms in a cluster on a single stalk above a single pair of toothed stem leaves each divided into three broad leaflets. After flowering, narrow seedpods appear just below the flower cluster.

The crinkleroot grows in woods but does not tolerate the shades cast by evergreen trees.