How to identify — Mountain avens has large, shiny, herbaceous leaves. The leaf shape is round to kidney-shaped, with shallow lobes. The margin of the leaf is serrated. There are tiny leaves growing along the stem. Separate flower stems carry 1-5 large yellow buttercup-like flowers above the leaves. Each flower has 5 unfused petals and can produce about 50 seeds. The leaf and flower stems emerge directly from the ground. The leaves turn bright red to deep purple in the fall. When mountain avens is in flower, the large yellow flowers on long stems make it difficult to confuse this plant with anything else above treeline. The large leaves are also quite distinct for an alpine plant. Purple avens (Geum rivale) has a similar looking leaf, but is restricted to lower elevations. Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) also has a similar leaf, but it is more deeply lobed than the leaves of mountain avens. Although various currant species (Ribes spp.) also have similar leaves, currants are shrubs with woody stems.
Habitat/Distribution — Mountain avens is limited to only a few disjunct locations worldwide. It is only found in the White Mountains of NH, and Digby County in Novia Scotia. Despite it’s rarity globally, it can become common in appropriate habitat in the White Mountains. Mountain avens is found in all types of moist to wet alpine areas, including wet meadows, streams, bogs, depressions, and cliff seeps. It is also found at some lower elevations along cool subalpine streams, such as at Zealand Falls.
Ecology — Mountain avens is a member of the rose family (Rosaceae). It is closely related to the blackberry/rasberry genus (Rubus), but does not produce edible fruits. There is a closely related Appalachian avens (Geum radiatum), which is limited to 10 populations in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
Environmental Change Issues — Because mountain avens is found in only a few locations worldwide, the handful of larger alpine areas in the White Mountains where it grows are crucial to its persistence. On the other hand, because it can exist in non-alpine areas, if alpine areas shrink in the future, mountain avens may be able to find refuge in subalpine rocky streamside and cliff areas.
