White snakeroot is a herbaceous perennial that blooms from August to October, displaying a showy appearance of small, fluffy, bright white flowers arranged in flat-topped clusters of 12 to 25 florets per flower head on erect and light green to tan stems that are usually hairless. The leaves are medium to dark green with ovate to subcordate lower leaves and lanceolate upper leaves that may be hairy on the underside. The leaves have prominent veins and are up to 5 inches in length and 4 inches in width. Leaf margins are serrated and leaf tips tend to be sharply pointed, especially so on the upper leaves. This plant can reach up to heights of up to 5 feet and can quickly spread through its underground rhizome and ability to self-seed. 

White snakeroot is native to eastern North America and is found in most states, including throughout Pennsylvania in shaded environments such as woodlands, thickets, and rocky slopes. Aside from its toxic characteristics, white snakeroot can offer an attractive display to pollinators and humans for public and ornamental use within gardens. This plant may be referred to Eupatoriam rugosum due to its resemblance of white-flowered Eupatoriam spp., however this is an older binomial name for this species.

The common name, white snakeroot, came from a misguided belief among early settlers that the roots could cure snakebites. However, every part of the plant is extremely toxic when ingested, harboring the toxic compounds of tremetol and glycosides, causing severe symptoms like vomiting, heart damage, abdominal pain, and coma. This plant also posed significant risks for settlers with livestock, as cows frequently consumed the foliage, passing the toxins into the milk causing a disease called milk sickness. This sickness could have been the result of the death of Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln.