Hepatica
Hepatica nobilis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Subfamily: Ranunculoideae
Tribe: Anemoneae
Genus: Hepatica
Mill.
Synonyms[1]
  • Isopyrum Adans.
Hepatica transsilvanica

Hepatica (hepatica,[2] liverleaf,[3] or liverwort)[4] 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.[5][6]

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.[7] It was proposed as a subgenus of Anemone in 1836,[8] but later segregated into genus Hepatica.

Taxa

Hepatica nobilis flowers
Hepatica in Europos Parkas, Lithuania
Hepatica nobilis in Aínsa, Spain

As of January 2021, Kew's Plants of the World Online (POWO) accepts 7 species and one hybrid in the genus Hepatica:[1]

  • Hepatica acutiloba DC.
    • Synonym: Anemone acutiloba (DC.) G.Lawson
    • Synonym: Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (Pursh) Steyerm.
  • Hepatica americana (DC.) Ker Gawl.
    • Synonym: Anemone americana (DC.) H.Hara
    • Synonym: Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa (Pursh) Steyerm.
  • Hepatica falconeri (Thomson) Steward
  • Hepatica henryi (Oliv.) Steward
    • Synonym: Hepatica yamatutai Nakai
  • Hepatica maxima (Nakai) Nakai
  • Hepatica × media Simonk.
  • Hepatica nobilis Schreb.
    • Synonym: Anemone hepatica L.
  • Hepatica transsilvanica Fuss
    • Synonym: Anemone transsilvanica (Fuss) Heuff.

One infraspecific taxon is also recognized by POWO:[9]

  • Hepatica nobilis var. japonica Nakai
    • Synonym: Hepatica asiatica Nakai
    • Synonym: Hepatica insularis Nakai

Hepatica can be divided into two series with respect to leaf edge:

Series Triloba

The leaves of the series Triloba Ulbr.[10] Tamura:[11] are three-lobed with a smooth leaf edge.

Series Angulosa

The leaves of series Angulosa (Ulbr.)[10] Tamura[11] are three- to five-lobed with a crenate leaf edge.

Etymology

The word hepatica derives from the Greek ἡπατικός hēpatikós, from ἧπαρ hêpar 'liver', because its three-lobed leaf was thought to resemble the human liver.[25]

Distribution

Plants of genus Hepatica are native to Europe, Asia, and North America.[1]

  • 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.[1]

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.[26]

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.[5]

Distribution map of "Hepatica" in Europe, Asia and North America. (Try according to natural distribution given in the wikipedia pages)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Hepatica Mill.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  2. ↑ Gleason, H.A. 1952. The new Britton and Brown Illustrated flora of the Northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. Volume 2: The chloripetalous Dicotyledoneae. Hafner Press, New York.
  3. ↑ Bailey, L.H.; Bailey, E.Z.; the staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan, New York.
  4. ↑ Webster's Third International Dictionary
  5. 1 2 John Uri Lloyd; Curtis G. Lloyd (1884–1887). "Drugs and medicines of North America: Hepatica".
  6. ↑ Sara B. Hoot; Anton A. Reznicek; Jeffrey D. Palmer (Jan–Mar 1994). "Phylogenetic Relationships in Anemone (Ranunculaceae) Based on Morphology and Chloroplast DNA". Systematic Botany. 19 (1): 169–200. doi:10.2307/2419720. JSTOR 2419720.
  7. ↑ "Hepatica Mill.". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  8. ↑ "Anemone subgen. Hepatica (Mill.) Heer". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  9. 1 2 "Hepatica nobilis var. japonica Nakai". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  10. 1 2 Ulbrich, O.E.: Über die systematische Gliederung und geographische Verbreitung der Gattung Anemone L. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. (1905) 37: 172 - 257, 38: 257 - 334.
  11. 1 2 Tamura, M.: Morphology, ecology and phylogeny of the Ranunculaceae” VII. Science reports of South College, North College of Osaka University, Japan 16:21-43, 1968.
  12. ↑ "Hepatica acutiloba DC.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  13. ↑ Dutton, Bryan E.; Keener, Carl S.; Ford, Bruce A. (1997). "Anemone acutiloba". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 3. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  14. 1 2 Alan S. Weakley (April 2008). "Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia, and Surrounding Areas".
  15. ↑ "Hepatica americana (DC.) Ker Gawl.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  16. ↑ Dutton, Bryan E.; Keener, Carl S.; Ford, Bruce A. (1997). "Anemone americana". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 3. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  17. ↑ "Hepatica maxima (Nakai) Nakai". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  18. ↑ "Hepatica nobilis Schreb.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  19. ↑ "Hepatica falconeri (Thomson) Steward". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  20. ↑ "Hepatica henryi (Oliv.) Steward". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  21. ↑ STEWARD, A.N.: in Rhodora 29: 53. 1927
  22. ↑ Peters, Jürgen: Das etwas andere Leberblümchen: Hepatica yamatutai Nakai in ‚Gartenbotanische Blätter‘ 5/2000 der Gartenbotanischen Vereinigung in Deutschland
  23. ↑ "Hepatica × media Simonk.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  24. ↑ "Hepatica transsilvanica Fuss". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  25. ↑ Shorter Oxford English dictionary. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. 2007. p. 3804. ISBN 978-0199206872.
  26. ↑ Jon Ardle (2000). "Layers of Complexity". The Garden. Royal Horticultural Society.
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