| Family | Scientific Name | Common Name | Habitat | Distribution | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosaceae | Geum aleppicum | Yellow Avens | Floodplain forests, bogs, and boggy meadows. | Circumboreal, in North America south to NJ, w. NC, ne. TN (Chester, Wofford, & Kral 1997), IN, IL, IA, NM, and Mexico. The report for GA (Jones & Coile 1988) is in error. |  |
| Rosaceae | Geum canadense | White Avens | Moist slope forests, bottomland forests, swamp forests, tidal swamps, rarely in submesic forests. | NS west to ND, south to c. GA and TX; allegedly disjunct in Mexico (Villaseñor 2016). |  |
| Rosaceae | Geum geniculatum | Bent Avens | Seeps, seepy boulderfield forests, grassy balds, cliff bases, banks of cool streams up to about 5 m wide, at high to moderate elevations. | G. geniculatum is apparently restricted (though locally fairly common in the prime habitats) to the few highest peaks in nw. NC and ne. TN: the Roan Mountain massif (Roan High Knob, Roan High Bluff, Round Bald, Jane Bald, Grassy Ridge, Little Hump Mountain, Big Yellow Mountain, and Big Hump Mountain; Avery and Mitchell counties, NC, and Carter County, TN), Grandfather Mountain (Avery, Watauga, and Caldwell counties, NC), and Rich Mountain (Watauga County, NC). Also recently discovered (August 2021) by Amanda Treher on Whitetop Moutain in Washington County, VA where it appears to naturally occur in and around seepage areas (Virginia Botanical Associates 2022). It may be found on a few other peaks, such as Snake Mountain. The distribution of this species is peculiar. While limited to the several highest and coldest mountains in the Southern Appalachians, it extends downslope on Roan Mountain and Grandfather Mountain nearly to their bases, in environmental situations that are apparently duplicated on many other Southern Appalachian peaks. Perhaps G. geniculatum was more widespread in the Southern Appalachians in the cooler, moister conditions of the post-Pleistocene, but became restricted to the few coldest peaks during the warmer, drier conditions of the Hypsithermal Interval (7000-2000 B.C.). Following climatic cooling, it was able to disperse downslope from its several refugia, but has not dispersed successfully to other peaks. G. geniculatum is most closely related to the circumboreal G. rivale, with which it shares such characteristics as purplish, non-reflexed sepals, a relatively long terminal style segment, upper pedicel with long glandular hairs, and basal style segment with long glandular hairs. |  |
| Rosaceae | Geum laciniatum | Rough Avens | Fens and wet meadows, rich alluvial soil of bottomland forests, especially over calcareous or mafic rocks. | NS west to w, ON, MN, and e. SD, south to nw. SC and KS. |  |
| Rosaceae | Geum radiatum | Spreading Avens, Cliff Avens | High elevation rocky summits, in thin soil at tops of cliffs and on ledges (where not trampled), in pockets of soil on nearly vertical portions of cliffs, in open grassy balds, around Rhododendron catawbiense in grassy balds, or in grassy areas at bases of cliffs (where succession by shrubs is prevented by accumulation of seepage ice and by stone fall). | Ranging from Ashe County, NC (Phoenix Mountain) south and west to Sevier County, TN (Mount Leconte) and Transylvania County, NC (the Devil's Courthouse), restricted to "pseudo-alpine" rock outcrops and grassy meadows near the summits of the higher peaks of the Southern Blue Ridge, notably Bluff Mountain, Three Top Mountain, Phoenix Mountain, and The Peak (Ashe County, NC), Grandfather Mountain (Watauga and Avery counties, NC), Grassy Ridge (Avery County, NC), Roan High Bluff (Mitchell County, NC), Mount Craig in the Black Mountains (Yancey County, NC), Craggy Pinnacle, Craggy Dome, and Craggy Gardens (Buncombe County), the Devil's Courthouse (Transylvania County, NC), and Mount Leconte (Sevier County, TN) |  |
| Rosaceae | Geum rivale | Water Avens, Purple Avens | Calcareous fens, swamps, seepages, and wet meadows. | Circumboreal, in North America from NL (Labrador), Keewatin, and BC south to NJ, MD, WV (Pocahontas, Preston, Randolph, and Tucker counties), OH, IN, IL, MN, SD, NM, and WA. |  |
| Rosaceae | Geum urbanum | Herb Bennet, Town Avens | Roadsides, disturbed areas, gardens. | Native of Europe. | |
| Rosaceae | Geum vernum | Spring Avens, Heartleaf Avens | Seepages, swamps, roadsides, disturbed areas, probably both native and introduced in our area, the native occurrences now being supplemented by its spread along roads from farther west. | VT, ON, MI, WI, IA, and se. NE south to c. NC, w. SC, n. AL, AR, and OK. |  |
| Rosaceae | Geum virginianum | Cream Avens | Bottomland forests, moist slope forests, swamp forests, and extending upslope to mesic or even dry sites, especially over mafic rocks. | MA and NY west to IN, south to SC and TN. |  |
Cite as...