Circaea

Circaea 

a genus of perennial herbs of the family Onagraceae. The rhizome is slender and spreading, and the leaves are opposite. The small white or pink flowers are in apical racemes. There are two stipules, two petals, and two stamens. The pear-shaped or clavate fruit is densely covered with hooklike bristly hairs that are directed downward. There are about ten species distributed in the frigid and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere. The USSR has six species. The most widespread is C. alpina, which grows in damp and swampy mossy forests (mainly spruce and alder forests), often on moss-covered tree stumps. The species is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.