Pacific Ninebark (physocarpus capitatus)

Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus) is a tall shrub with shredding bark and angled stems. Reaching up to four meters tall, it is considered highly poisonous, but in small quantities the tea used to be made from it as a laxative or emetic. Its leaves are fairly distinct; deciduous and alternately arranged, three to six centimeters long. It has three or five lobes, with toothed margins, and deep, pinnate venation. The leaves are green above and lighter below. The flowers are small and white and arranged in a round, terminal cluster. They can reach four millimeters long, with five petals and thirty stamen. It bears reddish, dried but inflated fruits up to one centimeter long, with yellow seeds inside.   ninebark