Hepatica

Hepatica (hepatica, liverleaf, or liverwort) is a genus of herbaceous perennials in the buttercup family, native to central and northern Europe, Asia and eastern North America. Some botanists include Hepatica within a wider interpretation of Anemone.
Description
Bisexual flowers with pink, purple, blue, or white sepals and three green bracts appear singly on hairy stems from late winter to spring. Butterflies, moths, bees, flies and beetles are known pollinators.
The leaves are basal, leathery, and usually three-lobed, remaining over winter.
Taxonomy
Hepatica was described by the English botanist Philip Miller in 1754. It was proposed as a subgenus of Anemone in 1836, but later segregated into genus Hepatica.
Taxa
, Kew's Plants of the World Online (POWO) accepts 7 species and one hybrid in the genus Hepatica:
One infraspecific taxon is also recognized by POWO:
Hepatica nobilis var. japonica
Synonym: Hepatica asiatica
Synonym: Hepatica insularis
Hepatica can be divided into two series with respect to leaf edge:
Series Triloba
The leaves of the series Triloba Ulbr. Tamura: are three-lobed with a smooth leaf edge.
Hepatica acutiloba: Eastern Canada, Midwestern United States, Eastern United States
Hepatica americana: Central Canada, Eastern Canada, Midwestern United States, Eastern United States
Hepatica maxima: endemic to Ulleung-do island (South Korea)
Hepatica nobilis:
Hepatica nobilis var. nobilis: Europe to Western Siberia
Hepatica nobilis var. japonica: Russian Far East, North China, Central China, East China, Korea, and Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, north of Kyushu island)
Series Angulosa
The leaves of series Angulosa (Ulbr.) Tamura are three- to five-lobed with a crenate leaf edge.
Hepatica falconeri — Mountain forests of Central Asia; India: Northwest Himalayas (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir); Northwest China (Tienshan); Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (Pamir-Alai); North Pakistan, Kazakhstan (North Tienshan)
Hepatica henryi: North Central China, South Central China (western Hubei, northern Hunan, Sichuan, Shaanxi)
Hepatica × media: Romania
Hepatica transsilvanica: Romania (Carpathian Mountains, Transylvania)
Etymology
The word hepatica derives from the Greek , from 'liver', because its three-lobed leaf was thought to resemble the human liver.
Distribution
Plants of genus Hepatica are native to Europe, Asia, and North America.
Europe: Albania, Austria, the Baltic states, Belarus, Bulgaria, Corsica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Yugoslavia
Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Western Siberia
Eastern Asia: North China, South Central China, East China, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Primorsky Krai
South Asia: Pakistan, Western Himalaya
Canada: Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec
United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin
Plants of the genus have been introduced to Belgium.
Cultivation
Hepatica cultivation has been popular in Japan since the 18th century (mid-Edo period), where flowers with doubled petals and a range of colour patterns have been developed.
Noted for its tolerance of alkaline limestone-derived soils, Hepatica may grow in a wide range of conditions; it can be found either in deeply shaded deciduous (especially beech) woodland and scrub or grassland in full sun. Hepatica will also grow in both sandy and clay-rich substrates, being associated with limestone. Moist soil and winter snowfall are required; Hepatica is tolerant of winter snow cover, but less so of dry frost.
Propagation is done by seeds or by dividing vigorous clumps in spring. However, seedlings take several years to reach bloom size, and divided plants are slow to thicken.
Uses
Hepatica was once used as a medicinal herb. Owing to the doctrine of signatures, the plant was once thought to be an effective treatment for liver disorders. Although poisonous in large doses, the leaves and flowers may be used as an astringent, as a demulcent for slow-healing injuries, and as a diuretic.
References
External links
Ranunculaceae genera
Medicinal plants of Asia
Medicinal plants of Europe
Medicinal plants of North America
Taxa named by Philip Miller