Image of American liverleaf

Description:

Slo.: navadni jetrnik - syn.: Anemone hepatica L. - Habitat: in grass at the base of a rock boulder next to light mixed wood; Fagus sylvatica, Tilia platyphyllos and Picea abies dominant trees; locally flat terrain, colluvial, skeletal ground with scattered rock boulders; shallow thin soil layer; calcareous ground; semi dry, shady place; exposed to direct rain; elevation 600 m (1.970 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil. Comment: Hepatica nobilis is another plant which inspires me year after year. It is a very common plant on alkaline limestone-derived soils in west and central Slovenia. One can see it in thousands covering still mostly barren, brown ground of light broadleaved woods in early spring. It is very beautiful in every detail, from intensively coloured petals, tender white filaments with large, sometimes pink stamens to beautifully shaped leaves. The flowers come in very different colours. Most of them are sky-blue to violet-blue, but pink to completely white flowering plants are also not rare. Hepatica nobilis was once used as a medicinal herb to treat liver problems. Ref.: (1) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 302. (2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 133. (x) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 1., Haupt (2004), p 144.