Family: Berberidaceae

Common name: Vanilla-leaf

E-flora BC: http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Achlys%20triphylla

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achlys_triphylla

Vanilla-leaf is a common understory plants in the woods around Nanaimo. The plant is about 30 cm tall. The scientific name is descriptive, tri = three, phylla = leaf. You’ll note that each compound leaf has 3 leaflets. The leaflets are broadest at the tip and narrowest where they attach to the leaf stalk (the ‘petiole’). When you touch the leaf, you’ll notice that it has a soft surface texture.

We usually find vanilla-leaf where there’s a bit of moisture in the ground and where there is some shade from taller plants.

This image shows a vanilla-leaf plant. What looks like many individual plants with flowers, are the many leaves and flower stalks growing out of a criss-crossing underground stem (a ‘rhizome’). Note how the leaflet of a given leaf is broad at the tip and narrow where it attaches to the leaf stalk (the ‘petiole’). The flowers of vanilla-leaf occur in early summer. When you’re out in the woods in the fall, studying for Botany, you may not see any flowers, only the leaves. Photo credit: Lynda Stevens
A nice close up of the flower spike of vanilla-leaf, Achlys triphylla. The spike is an ‘inflorescence’, a cluster of individual flowers arranged along the tip of the flower stalk (the ‘peduncle’). Photo credit: Lynda Stevens
Vanilla-leaf leaf, showing the three leaflets of the compound leaf. Note the venation and the wavy outer edge, and the attachment point to the leaf stalk (the petiole). Photo credit: Lynda Stevens

Vanilla-leaf contains sweet-smelling compounds called coumarins (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/ja01958a026). Some people pick bunches of vanilla-leaf leaves in early summer, hang the bunches upside down to dry them and then enjoy the scent throughout the year. Try crushing a bit of vanilla-leaf between your fingers and see if you can smell the coumarins.