Hepatica

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Ordo: Ranunculales

Familia: Ranunculaceae
Subfamilia: Ranunculoideae
Tribus: Anemoneae
Genus: Hepatica
Species: H. acutiloba – H. americana – H. asiatica – H. falconeri – H. henryi – H. insularis – H. maxima – H. nobilis – H. transsilvanica
Nothospecies: H. × media
Name

Hepatica Mill., Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4. [unpaged] (1754).

Type species: Hepatica nobilis Schreb., Spic. Fl. Lips.: 39 (1771) =Anemone hepatica L.

Synonyms

Homotypic
Anemone sect. Hepatica (Mill.) Spreng., Syst. Veg., ed. 16: 660 (1825).
Anemone subg. Hepatica (Mill.) Peterm., Anal. Pfl.-Schlüss. 5 (1846).
Heterotypic
Isopyrum Adans., Fam. Pl. 2: 460 (1763) nom. illeg. hom. non Isopyrum L., Sp. Pl. 1: 557 (1753).

References
Primary references

Miller, P. 1754. The Gardeners Dictionary. Abridged. Ed. 4, Vol. 1–3 (unpaged). John & James Rivington, London. DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.79061 Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Hepatica in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Feb. 4. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Hepatica. Published online. Accessed: Feb. 5 2020.
Tropicos.org 2020. Hepatica. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Feb. 5.

Vernacular names
беларуская: Пералеска
English: Liverleaf
eesti: Sinilill
suomi: Sinivuokot
hornjoserbsce: Jatronka
norsk: Blåveisslekta
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.

Hepatica acutiloba: Eastern Canada, Midwestern United States, Eastern United States[12][13][14]
Hepatica americana: Central Canada, Eastern Canada, Midwestern United States, Eastern United States[15][16][14]
Hepatica maxima: endemic to Ulleung-do island (South Korea)[17]
Hepatica nobilis:
Hepatica nobilis var. nobilis: Europe to Western Siberia[18]
Hepatica nobilis var. japonica: Russian Far East, North China, Central China, East China, Korea, and Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, north of Kyushu island)[9]

Series Angulosa

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

Hepatica falconeri — Mountain forests of Central Asia; India: Northwest Himalayas (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir); Northwest China (Tienshan); Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (Pamir-Alai); North Pakistan, Kazakhstan (North Tienshan)[19]
Hepatica henryi: North Central China, South Central China (western Hubei, northern Hunan, Sichuan, Shaanxi)[20][21][22]
Hepatica × media: Romania[23]
Hepatica transsilvanica: Romania (Carpathian Mountains, Transylvania)[24]

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

"Hepatica Mill.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
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.
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.
Webster's Third International Dictionary
John Uri Lloyd; Curtis G. Lloyd (1884–1887). "Drugs and medicines of North America: Hepatica".
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.
"Hepatica Mill.". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
"Anemone subgen. Hepatica (Mill.) Heer". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
"Hepatica nobilis var. japonica Nakai". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
Ulbrich, O.E.: Über die systematische Gliederung und geographische Verbreitung der Gattung Anemone L. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. (1905) 37: 172 - 257, 38: 257 - 334.
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.
"Hepatica acutiloba DC.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
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). 3. New York and Oxford. Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
Alan S. Weakley (April 2008). "Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia, and Surrounding Areas".
"Hepatica americana (DC.) Ker Gawl.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
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). 3. New York and Oxford. Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
"Hepatica maxima (Nakai) Nakai". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
"Hepatica nobilis Schreb.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
"Hepatica falconeri (Thomson) Steward". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
"Hepatica henryi (Oliv.) Steward". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
STEWARD, A.N.: in Rhodora 29: 53. 1927
Peters, Jürgen: Das etwas andere Leberblümchen: Hepatica yamatutai Nakai in ‚Gartenbotanische Blätter‘ 5/2000 der Gartenbotanischen Vereinigung in Deutschland
"Hepatica × media Simonk.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
"Hepatica transsilvanica Fuss". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
Shorter Oxford English dictionary. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. 2007. p. 3804. ISBN 978-0199206872.
Jon Ardle (2000). "Layers of Complexity". The Garden. Royal Horticultural Society.