This member of the evening primrose family is easily overlooked because the flowers are so tiny - about ¼ inch long. With magnification, though, it is a fascinating flower. The fragile little white blooms have only two deeply notched petals (that may look like four petals) and two sepals that are reflexed backward. It is one of the very few flowers with only two petals. There are also only two stamens.

The stems are covered with white hairs.  The plant spreads by both seeds and rhizomes and grows 1-2 feet tall in wooded areas in most of Eastern and Central North America. It seems more abundant in a belt from New England to Missouri and Minnesota and less common in the South. It blooms from June to August. It is often considered a subspecies of a similar Eurasian plan.

The related smaller enchanter’s nightshade (C. alpina) has even smaller flowers with a heart-shaped base, and leaves more coarsely toothed. It blooms a bit later-from July to September and is a more northern species that can grow further south only in the mountains. The genus and common name of the plant is derived from the mythological enchantress Circe, who is said to have used a poisonous member of this genus in her sorcery.