Nabalus racemosus(Michx.) Hook.

purple rattlesnakeroot

WFO wfo-0000062921 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Nabalus racemosus, photographed by Mary Krieger
fig. a Mary Krieger, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-09-02 / obs. 156660499
Nabalus racemosus, photographed by Christopher Zacharias
fig. b Christopher Zacharias, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 153842355
Nabalus racemosus, photographed by Elias
fig. c Elias, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 153763097
Nabalus racemosus, photographed by Jacob Friend
fig. d Jacob Friend, CC0 1.0 / obs. 96361170
Nabalus racemosus, photographed by Elias
fig. e Elias, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 94036273
Nabalus racemosus, photographed by Rae Bosley
fig. f Rae Bosley, CC0 1.0 / obs. 93823802
Nabalus racemosus, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. g Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 90699742
Nabalus racemosus, photographed by Mike B
fig. h Mike B, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 53417414

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 30 botanical countries

Regions where Nabalus racemosus is native: Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Brunswick, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Dakota, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Québec, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming AlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyMaineManitobaMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNew BrunswickNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth DakotaNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaVermontWashingtonWisconsinWyoming
Native distribution of Nabalus racemosus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alberta ABT NORTHERN AMERICA
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
New Brunswick NBR
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Dakota NDA
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 142 in flower of 200 examined

Peak flowering in Sep. Each bar is the share of Nabalus racemosus observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 142 of 200 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 8 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 10 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Chondrilla racemosa (Michx.) Poir.
  • Nabalus racemosus (Michx.) DC.
  • Nabalus racemosus var. pinnatifidus (A.Gray) Britton
  • Nabalus racemosus var. racemosus
  • Prenanthes racemosa Michx.
  • Prenanthes racemosa f. racemosa
  • Prenanthes racemosa subsp. multiflora Cronquist
  • Prenanthes racemosa var. multiflora (Cronquist) Dorn
  • Prenanthes racemosa var. pinnatifida A.Gray
  • Prenanthes racemosa var. racemosa

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol PRRA. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.