Liverleaf is one of TPP's favorite early spring woodland wildflowers. Interestingly enough the common name liverleaf, and it's genus, Hepatica, derive from the similarity between the plant's three-lobed leaf (H. acutifolia), which is a dark reddish-purple color in the early spring having persisted from the previous season, and a liver. One of such leaf appears just below the flowering stalks at the lower left. Such associations were actively sought based on a traditional medicine belief system of "likes cure likes". They don't, but the names have persisted as a relict of that era. This is a fairly easy, trouble-free wild flower to cultivate if you have the right location. In nature the plant is usually found just at the top shoulder and down a slope, often near the base of trees. In TPP's experience the plant doesn't like being buried in leaf litter. In a garden lacking a slope, they grow best at the base of large trees especially between roots. In a garden lacking large trees and slopes, a rock garden would work in a shady area. The flower color is generally white to lavender, but sometimes you can find a very pink flowered plant. The flowers pop up quickly in the very early spring and are then followed by new trilobed leaves.
in The Greenhouse
2 comments:
Beautiful flower but terrible name. You'd think someone would have come up with a more appealing common name.
What a pleasure it always was to find this spring flower in bloom, often in large patches that ran the range of colors - just one of many flowers that I haven't seen since leaving the long-uncut woodlands of our Southern Tier farm. And we did call them Hepatica, a rather pretty name to my ears. Thanks for the reminder.
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