GENUS 15. 



CROWFOOT FAMILY. 



101 



15. HEPATICA [Rupp.] Mill. Card. Diet. Abr. Ed. 4. 1754. 



Perennial scapose herbs, with long-petioled thick 3-lobed evergreen basal leaves, and 

 large white or purple flowers, solitary on slender scapes. Involucre of 3 small sessile leaves 

 close under the flowers, simulating a calyx. Sepals membranous, petal-like. Stamens all 

 anther-bearing. Achenes short-beaked, pubescent. [Name ancient, from the supposed re- 

 semblance of the leaves to the liver.] 



A genus of about 4 species, natives of the north temperate zone. Only the following are known 

 from North America. Type species : Anemone Hepatica L. 



Lobes of the leaves rounded or obtuse. i. H. Hepatica. 



Lobes of the leaves acute. 2. H. acutiloba. 



i. Hepatica Hepatica (L.) Karst. Rcund-lobed or Kidney Liver-leaf. Noble 



Liverwort. Fig. 1889. 



Anemone Hepatica L. Sp. PI. 538. 1753. 



Hepatica triloba Chaix in Vill. Hist. PI. Dauph. 

 i : 336. 1786. 



Hepatica Hepatica Karst. Deutsch. Fl. 559. 

 1880-83. 



Scapes 4'-6' high, villous ; roots fibrous. 

 Leaves long-petioled, reniform, 2'-2j' broad 

 when mature, spreading on the ground, 3- 

 lobed, and the lobes sometimes toothed or 

 again lobed, obtuse; involucre of 3 sessile 

 obtuse oblong leaves immediately under the 

 flowers; flowers blue, purple or white, 

 6"-io" broad ; sepals oval or oblong, ob- 

 tuse, longer than the stamens; achenes 

 several, 2" long, oblong, acute, hairy. 



In woods, often in large tufts, Nova Scotia 

 to northern Florida, west to Manitoba, Iowa 

 and Missouri. Alaska. Ascends to 2600 ft. 

 in Virginia. Also in Europe and Asia. Dec.- 

 May. Heart- or three-leaf liverwort. Liver- 

 moss. Mouse-ears. Spring-beauty. Crystal- 

 wort. Golden trefoil. Ivy-flower. Herb Trinity. 

 Squirrel-cup 



2. Hepatica acutiloba DC. Sharp- 

 lobed or Heart Liver-leaf or Liver- 

 wort. Fig. 1890. 



Hepatica triloba var. acuta Pursh, Fl. Am. 

 Sept. 391. 1814. 



Hepatica acutiloba DC. Prodr. i : 22. 1824. 



Hepatica acuta Britton, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 

 6: 234. 1891. 



Scapes 4'-o/ high, villous. Plant closely 

 resembling the preceding, differing in that 

 the leaf-lobes and those of the involucre 

 are acute or acutish. 



In woods, Maine, Quebec and throughout 

 Ontario, south in the Alleghanies to Georgia, 

 but rare or absent near the Atlantic Coast, 

 west to Missouri and Minnesota. Puzzling 

 forms occur which are referable with about 

 equal certainty to the preceding species of 

 which it may be regarded as a geographical 

 race. The leaf-form of the German plant is 

 quite intermediate between our Hepatica and 

 acutiloba. A dioecious tendency of this species 

 has been observed. March-April. Spring- 

 beauty. May-flower. 



