Adoxa moschatellina, moschatel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Adoxaceae which has a highly distinctive inflorescence.

The aerial stems are produced in early spring (typically around the end of February in England), long before the woodland canopy forms.

Each flower can develop 2-5 fruits, which are rather dry drupes, 4.5 - 5.55 mm in diameter, partially encased by the expanded, fleshy calyx.

At this time the peduncle expands and spirals, bending towards to ground to deposit the fruits close to the parent plant.

[5] However, in 2018 a second species of Adoxa was discovered in China[6] and, meanwhile, cytological[7] and genetics studies have shown that family should include the elders and viburnums.

[8] Its name was given by Linnaeus in 1753, in Species Plantarum (p. 367) and it has received a few synonyms since then, including Moscatella adoxa (Scop., 1771) and Moschatellina fumariifolia (Bubani, 1899), but these have not stuck.

[2] Other common names include five-faced bishop,[13] hollowroot, muskroot, townhall clock,[14] tuberous crowfoot and Good Friday plant.

The name hollowroot presumably comes from the way the stolons (not actually the roots) have a dark core and so have the appearance, in a cut section, of being hollow.

[19][20] It is widespread in most parts of Britain but not common, being generally restricted to small patches in areas of ancient woodland.

It becomes scarce in the north and west, where the soils are too acid for it, and parts of eastern England where there has been little woodland cover.

[17] Moschatel grows in woodland and scrub, typically in places with fairly light shade, such as the edges of paths or alongside streams and rivers.

[24] In the Scottish Highlands and Snowdonia, it occurs in juniper scrub (W19),[25] and in shady nooks amongst boulders in upland heaths and pillow lavas (on Cadair Idris).

This lack of dispersal capacity helps to account for it being largely restricted to ancient woodland, although it is known to establish well in new sites if transported there manually.

The larvae of two species of sawfly are known to feed on this plant in Britain: Paracharactus gracilicornis (Zaddach, 1859) and Sciapteryx consobrina (Klug, 1816).