Species
+

Veronicastrum virginicum (L.) Farw.

Blackroot, Bowman's-root, Culver's Root, Culver's root

Climate known 47 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Veronicastrum virginicum, or Culver's root, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. It is native to the eastern United States and south-eastern Canada. Growing to 200 cm (79 in) tall by 45 cm (18 in) broad, it is an erect herbaceous perennial with slender racemes of white or occasionally pink or purple flowers in summer.

Text from Wikipedia, “Veronicastrum virginicum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Veronicastrum

Veronicastrum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae. In some taxonomy systems, Veronicastrum species have been placed within the genus Veronica. The most commonly cultivated species is Veronicastrum virginicum, which is native to the Eastern parts of North America. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Veronicastrum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Plantaginaceae
Described by
(L.) Farw.
Native to
Manitoba, Ontario, Illinois +35
Wild records
1745 in range· 350 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jul, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
996mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 113 mm (CHELSA)
Light
10–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to November in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 996 mm a year, wettest June at 113 mm, driest February at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -22.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Calistachya alba (Moench) Raf.; Callistachya virginica (L.) Raf.; Callistachya virginica var. lanceolata Farw.; Callistachya virginica var. purpurea (Raf.) Farw.; Eustachya alba Raf. and 34 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to November in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (772 mm of 996 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 27.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to May.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 996 mm a year, wettest June at 113 mm, driest February at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

996 mm a year at the habitat, 772 mm of it April to November. Wettest month June at 113 mm, driest February at 49 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 817 mm to 1243 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -22.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -22.6 °C, the absolute minimum -38.8 °C, about 138 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -8.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells -13.4 °C to -3.6 °C), warmest day 27.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -22.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from -1 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Jul; mean night from -8 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 996 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1160 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -38.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-40°-20°20°40°frost34.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-38.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 10–41RH 55–62 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1160 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-1 / -5–52 / -2–78 / 5–1315 / 12–1920 / 18–2425 / 24–2828 / 26–3127 / 25–3023 / 21–2616 / 14–199 / 5–132 / -3–6
Night °C-8 / -13–-4-7 / -11–-2-2 / -5–24 / 2–810 / 9–1316 / 14–1919 / 17–2118 / 17–2114 / 12–168 / 6–102 / -2–5-5 / -10–-1
Rain mm51 / 22–8749 / 21–8164 / 44–10693 / 72–112106 / 87–132113 / 96–129108 / 92–123104 / 84–12292 / 81–11278 / 64–10678 / 46–10560 / 29–102
DLI13 / 11–1519 / 17–2026 / 25–2732 / 32–3437 / 36–3841 / 39–4240 / 38–4135 / 33–3727 / 26–3019 / 17–2213 / 11–1510 / 9–12
RH %62 / 58–6560 / 56–6357 / 55–5955 / 54–5756 / 54–5957 / 56–6058 / 57–6059 / 58–6058 / 57–6057 / 56–5959 / 58–6162 / 58–65

Each figure is the median across the 1160 grid cells holding the 1580 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 963:1841 (41.825, -87.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -38.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -22.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1160 distinct grid cells holding the 1580 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 963:1841 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.00_-88.125, lapse-corrected -25 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 206 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeManitoba, Ontario, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia· introduced: Nova Scotia
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker42.291, -88.362 · in the densest population, 504 records (29% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1745 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 350 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 136 km away. 72 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 165 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1745 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Veronicastrum virginicumVeronicastrum virginicumVeronicastrum virginicumVeronicastrum virginicumVeronicastrum virginicumVeronicastrum virginicumVeronicastrum virginicumVeronicastrum virginicum

Photographs: (c) Evan M. Raskin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Jamie Hunter, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Tom Norton, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Veronicastrum virginicum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Quantifying the attractiveness of garden flowers for pollinators
Rosi Rollings, Dave Goulson (2019) · Journal of Insect Conservation
Plant selection for roadside rain gardens in cold climates using real-scale studies of thirty-one herbaceous perennials
Kirstine Laukli, Hilde Vinje, Trond Knapp Haraldsen, Eva Vike (2022) · Urban forestry & urban greening
QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON OF FLORAL DEVELOPMENT IN VERONICA CHAMAEDRYS AND VERONICASTRUM VIRGINICUM (SCROPHULARIACEAE)
Christine M. Kampny, Timothy A. Dickinson, Nancy G. Dengler (1993) · American Journal of Botany
Addressing Detection Uncertainty inBombus affinis(Hymenoptera: Apidae) Surveys Can Improve Inferences Made From Monitoring
Clint R. V. Otto, Alma C Schrage, Larissa L. Bailey, John M. Mola (2022) · Environmental Entomology
Quantitative Floral Development in Pseudolysimachion (Scrophulariaceae): Intraspecific Variation and Comparison with Veronica and Veronicastrum
Christine M. Kampny, Timothy A. Dickinson, Nancy G. Dengler (1994) · American Journal of Botany
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fire effects on flowering diversity of tallgrass prairie forbs
Roger C. Anderson, Maggie Anderson, Erica A. Corbett (2017) · The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society
Timing of Transplanting Affects Survival of Prairie Perennial Forb Seedlings
Ricky D. Kemery, Michael N. Dana (1995) · HortScience
Quantitative Comparison of Floral Development in Veronica Chamaedrys and Veronicastrum Virginicum (Scrophulariaceae)
Christine M. Kampny, Timothy A. Dickinson, Nancy G. Dengler (1993) · American Journal of Botany
Veronicastrum wulingense (Plantaginaceae), a new species from Southwestern Hubei, China
Shi-Xiong Ding, Hui Jiang, Jing Tian, Jing Ren (2023) · Botanical studies
Occurrence Download
GBIF.Org User (2023) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 61 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.