This is the only Veratrum species to occur in Europe, Asia, and North America, and it is probably more widespread in northwestern Alaska than reported. Veratrum album is highly variable in size, flower color, pedicel length, and hairiness, and it has an extensive synonymy in Eurasia. Within the species at large, a polyploid series that includes 4x, 9x, 10x, and 12x accompanies the complex variability among constituent populations (M. N. Tamura 1998).