Plant Portrait
Scientific Name: |
Hepatica americana (=H. nobilis var. obtusa) |
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Common Name: |
Round-lobed Liverleaf |
Native/Alien: |
Native |
Type: |
Perennial |
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Plant in Bloom
© Tom Harville |
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Closeup of Blooms Coming up to bloom through last year's dead leaves.
© Tom Harville |
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Notes: |
The genus, Hepatica, so called because of the resemblance of the three leaves to a liver, contains two species found in North Carolina, H. americana and H. acutiloba. These are also the only two species of this genus found in North America.
Liverworts are harbingers of spring, being one of the first of our native wildflowers to bloom. Hepaticas are in the Ranunculaceace, or Buttercup, family, and were classified at one time as Anemone, which are their closest kin. Hepatica americana, with rounded leaves, is quite common and found though out the state. It favors neutral to slightly basic soils. |
Links: |
USDA PLANTS Database Record |
