Hepatica

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Hepatica
File:Hepatica nobilis plant.JPG
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.
File:Hepatica transsylvanica.jpg
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

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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

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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.

File:HepaticaNobilisMacro.jpg
Hepatica nobilis flowers
File:Hepatica in Lithuania.jpg
Hepatica in Europos Parkas, Lithuania
File:Hepatica nobilis var. pyrenaica .jpg
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]

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

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

Series Angulosa

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

Etymology

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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

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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

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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.

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

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  1. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  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
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  10. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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.
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  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
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