Heuchera elegans
Heuchera americana
urn-flower alum-root
alumroot, American alum-root, common alum-root
10–40 cm, sparsely medium stipitate-glandular.
leafy, 40–145 cm, glabrous or short stipitate-glandular.
petiole long stipitate-glandular;
blade reniform or orbiculate, shallowly 5-lobed, 1.5–3.5 cm, base cordate or truncate, lobes rounded, margins dentate, apex obtuse, surfaces short or long stipitate-glandular.
petiole glabrous or very short to long stipitate-glandular;
blade (often variegated adaxially), broadly ovate to cordate, shallowly 5–9-lobed, 3.5–11 cm, base cordate to nearly truncate, lobes rounded or ovate, margins dentate, apex acute or obtuse, surfaces abaxially glabrous or short stipitate-glandular, adaxially glabrous or short stipitate-glandular.
diffuse.
hypanthium strongly bilaterally symmetric, free 3–3.5 mm on adaxial side, pink to purplish, narrowly cylindric or cylindric-urceolate, 4–7 mm, short stipitate-glandular proximally, densely long stipitate-glandular distally;
sepals spreading, green-tipped, unequal, 2 mm on adaxial side of hypanthium, apex obtuse or rounded;
petals spreading, white, broadly oblanceolate, (clawed), unlobed, 3–4 mm (longer than sepals), margins entire;
stamens included 0.5 mm to exserted 0.5 mm;
styles included to 2 mm, 1.5–2 mm, 0.1+ mm diam.
hypanthium weakly bilaterally symmetric, free 0.6–2 mm, green, urceolate or campanulate, abruptly inflated distal to adnation to ovary, 3–7.2 mm, very short stipitate-glandular;
sepals erect, green-tipped, equal, 1–2.4 mm, apex rounded;
petals erect, greenish, white, pink, or purple, narrowly spatulate, unlobed, 0.9–4 mm, margins entire or finely dentate or fimbriate;
stamens exserted 3–5 mm;
styles exserted 2.6–6.4 mm, 4–7 mm, to 0.1 mm diam.
urceolate, 4–6 mm, beaks divergent, not papillose.
ovoid, 4–10.5 mm, beaks divergent, not papillose.
dark brown, ellipsoid, 0.7 mm.
dark brown, ellipsoid, 0.6–0.9 mm.
dense.
Heuchera elegans
Heuchera americana
Heuchera elegans occurs in the mountains of southern California, chiefly in the San Gabriel Range in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties and vicinity. It resembles H. caespitosa. This group is in need of phylogenetic study.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).
Heuchera americana is highly polymorphic and distributed over a large part of the eastern United States and Canada. Its variability is largely the result of its wide geographic range, the sporadic, semi-isolated distribution of populations, and interaction of differential adaptation and genetic drift made possible by its distribution pattern.
Heuchera americana intergrades with both H. pubescens and H. richardsonii where they overlap; the intergrading form with H. pubescens is H. americana var. hispida, and with H. richardsonii it is H. americana var. hirsuticaulis. A breeding study between H. americana, H. pubescens, H. richardsonii, and other species demonstrated ease of artificial hybridization and fertility of offspring among H. americana, H. pubescens, and H. richardsonii (E. F. Wells 1979).
Individuals of the three varieties do not form intermixed populations; populations tend to be geographically isolated from one another and to be relatively uniform, displaying somewhat narrow character variation within a population.
The Cherokee Indians took Heuchera americana for dysentery and used the powdered root for malignant ulcers, bad sores, bowel complaints, piles, female problems, and sore mouth. The Chickasaw Indians used the root as an astringent and tonic (D. E. Moerman 1998).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petioles densely long stipitate-glandular. | var. hirsuticaulis |
1. Petioles glabrous or short to sparsely long stipitate-glandular | → 2 |
2. Petioles glabrous or very short to sparsely long stipitate-glandular; hypanthia free 0.6-1.5 mm; petals greenish, white, or pink, narrower than sepals, margins entire or finely dentate. | var. americana |
2. Petioles glabrous or very short stipitate-glandular; hypanthia free 1.5-2 mm; petals purple or pink, wider than sepals, margins fimbriate. | var. hispida |
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