Wildflower (forb) · Onagraceae
Small enchanter's nightshade
Circaea alpina · includes its varieties and subspecies
Small enchanter's nightshade is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 577 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Small enchanter's nightshade at a glance
- Native in
- 577 counties, across 35 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 11 in PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Small enchanter's nightshade is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 577 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 577 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 16 counties
- Arizona 3 counties
- California 26 counties
- Colorado 5 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Idaho 23 counties
- Illinois 4 counties
- Indiana 8 counties
- Kentucky 9 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- Michigan 55 counties
- Minnesota 38 counties
- Montana 9 counties
- Nevada 4 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 4 counties
- New Mexico 5 counties
- New York 36 counties
- North Carolina 14 counties
- North Dakota 5 counties
- Ohio 29 counties
- Oregon 29 counties
- Pennsylvania 49 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Dakota 3 counties
- Tennessee 8 counties
- Utah 12 counties
- Vermont 14 counties
- Virginia 24 counties
- Washington 33 counties
- West Virginia 10 counties
- Wisconsin 57 counties
- Wyoming 6 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 11 in
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium
- pH range
- 5 to 6.6
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Onagraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CIAL
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Circaea alpina (PLANTS symbol CIAL), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources