Enchanter's nightshade is a small, weedy perennial wildflower ranging in size from 10 to 50 cm tall. Plants die back to the ground and overwinter via small tubers found at the ends of the thin rhizomes. The herbage is glandular hairy within the inflorescence and consists of tiny hairs closely appressed to the stem and pointing downward below. The leaf blades are ovate to ovate-heart-shaped with either entire to dentate margins. The leaves measure from 2-7 cm long and 1.5- 6 cm wide.
The inflorescence consists of racemes at the tip of the main stem and from the leaf axils. The tiny, white, four-petaled flowers are crowded when in flower. The floral tube is less than 1 mm long . The sepals are broad, white, and 1-2 mm long. The 4 petals are white and about as long as the sepals and notched 1/4-1/3 the length of the petal. The anthers are 0.25-0.4 mm long and wide. The stigma is capitate or 2-lobed and not exserted from the floral tube. The fruit is obovoid and curved with numerous, hooked hairs. It readily self-seeds and hence rates as pesky weed in the natural garden.
Enchanter's nightshade is a wildflower of cool, damp woods.
Enchanter's nightshade is found form Alaska south to California, and eastward to Newfoundland and south to Colorado and Georgia. In the southern extent of its range, it is primarily found in mountainous areas.
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