American Licorice
Wild Licorice grow near water in moist, well-drained sites in grasslands and foothills. Spike-like clusters of narrow pea-like yellowish-white flowers with an erect upper petal can be seen in June and July.
The plants are 12-40 in tall and leaves are composed of 11-19 long oval leaflets (1 in) on short branches. The flowers turn into oblong brown seed pods covered with long hooked bristles.
Did you know? The hooked bristles on the seed pods catch and cling to animal fur and human clothing distributing the seeds to new areas. Ants are attracted to the seeds and also help in distributing them.
See Also: Golden Bean, Lupine
Easy - numerous and usually easy to spot
in the habitats listed at the appropriate time of
year.
Grasslands are large open areas covered with
grasses. They have very few trees or shrubs.
This habitat includes prairies and tundra.
Wetlands are low-lying areas that are covered by
water all or most of the time and support a variety of
aquatic plants. This habitat includes rivers, streams,
lakes, ponds, bogs, and marshes.