Stems 40-70cm or more in height, branched above. Leaves sessile, heart-shaped, 5-15cm long, sometimes glaucous beneath and finely denticulate. Flowers 1cm long, greenish-white, the tepals somewhat spreading and recurved, singly or in pairs on slender stalks to 5cm long, from the upper leaf axils, summer. Berries 1cm in diameter red and glossy. Southern Europe to Japan and North America, in moist woods and scrub often where the soil is peaty. S.a. var. americana has the leaf undersides glaucous. Var. denticulatus has the leaf margins very finely toothed. Var. oreopolus bears deep purple to reddish flowers (northern North America up to subalpine levels). Var. papillatus has the leaf margins usually papillate, the leaf undersides glaucous and flowers always solitary (Japan).
a, S. amplexifolius; b, S. simplex;