Asian liverleaf is a small woodland wildflower of Korea, China, and the Russian Far East that doesn't grow wild in the US. In early spring it sends up white, pink, or purple flowers before the new leaves open.
Appearance
- Appearance
- A low perennial, about 3–8 in (8–20 cm) tall, with stems covered in long white hairs.
- Leaves
- Three to six leaves grow from the base. Each one is three-lobed and roughly triangular, with a heart-shaped base. Young leaves come up curled and fuzzy.
- Flowers
- Each stalk carries a single upward-facing flower. What look like petals are actually , around a cluster of yellow stamens. Colors range from white through pink to deep purple.
- Flowering time
- In Korea it blooms in March and April, before the leaves come out.
- Fruit
- Small one-seeded fruits () ripen in May and June.
Look-alikes
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Forests
- Wooded slopes
- Range
- Throughout mainland Korea, plus China and the Ussuri region of the Russian Far East. It doesn't grow wild in the US. The hepaticas you'll find in American woods are the native round-lobed and sharp-lobed hepaticas.
- Preferred conditions
- It grows in soil rich in leaf mold, in spots that are shady and cool in summer but sunny in winter, such as forested slopes.
Cautions
- Cautions
- The leaves contain toxic compounds. The plant has been used in folk medicine, but it is poisonous.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Some botanists treat Asian liverleaf as a variety of European liverleaf (Hepatica nobilis), sometimes together with the Japanese plants.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- The genus name Hepatica comes from the Greek word for liver, because the three-lobed leaf was thought to look like a liver. Under the old "doctrine of signatures," hepaticas were believed to treat liver ailments.
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