380 MISC. PUBLICATION 42 3, IT. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 

 2. HEUCHERA. 55 Alumroot 





Perennial herbs with scapose stems from a large, somewhat woody, 

 scaly caudex; leaves nearly all basal, long-petioled, with orbicular or 

 broadly ovate, cordate, dentate blades; flowers in narrow racemes or in 

 cymose panicles, slightly irregular, with a well-developed hypanthium; 

 petals small, rarely wanting; ovary 1-celled; fruit of 2 divergent beaked 

 follicles, these several-seeded. 



The rootstocks have astringent properties, as indicated by the 

 common name, and have been used by hunters and others in cases of 

 diarrhea caused by drinking alkali water. 



Key to the species 



1. Stamens surpassing the sepals; pistils exserted (sometimes tardily); styles 



slender, elongate, gradually expanded below into the conic beaks of the 



carpels; flowers pink or pinkish; petals much surpassing the sepals, with 



narrow blades and long, slender claws (2) . 



2. Filaments noticeably widened and flattened at base; stamens inserted at or 



slightly below the level of insertion of the petals; inferior part of the 



ovary at anthesis not longer than wide; petioles finely glandular-puberu- 



lent, sometimes also very sparsely hirtellous 1. H. rubescens. 



2. Filaments not noticeably widened and flattened at base; stamens usually 



inserted well below the level of insertion of the petals; petioles commonly 

 villous or hirsute with long hairs, sometimes merely glandular-puberu- 



lent 2. H. versicolor. 



1. Stamens not equaling the sepals; pistils included (3). 



3. Flowers deep pink to carmine; inflorescence relatively short and expanded, 



the lower branches seldom less than 2 and up to 6 cm. long; hypanthium 

 funnelform, becoming urceolate; petals much shorter than the sepals. 



3. H. SANGUINEA. 



3. Flowers greenish or yellowish, the petals often whitish; inflorescence elongate 

 and contracted, the lower branches usually less than 2 cm. long; hypan- 

 thium broadly turbinate, or campanulate (4) . 

 4. Sepals broadly triangular, more or less spreading; petals commonly sur- 

 passing the sepals, the blade usually at least twice as wide as the short 

 claw; pistils commonly shorter than the tube of the hypanthium. 



4. H. PARVIFOLIA. 



4. Sepals oblong or ovate, erect or incurved at tip; petals, when present, 

 shorter than the sepals, the blade usually not much wider than the 

 claw; pistils equaling or surpassing the tube of the hypanthium (5). 

 5. Flowers hexamerous, glandular-puberulent, sometimes also slightly hir- 

 tellous; petals none, or much reduced 5. H. eastwoodiae. 



5. Flowers normally pentamerous; petals present (6). 



6. Flowers merely glandular-puberulent; petioles hirsute. 



6. H. NOVOMEXICANA. 



6. Flowers copiously white-hirsute, also puberulent; petioles finely 

 puberulent 7. H. glomerulata. 



1. Heuchera rubescens Torr. in Stansb., Expl. Great Salt Lake 388. 



1852. 



Heuchera clutei A. Nels., Amer. Bot. 28:22. 1922. 



Hidden Spring, Navajo Mountain, Coconino County (Clute 80, the 

 type collection of H. clutei). Utah to Oregon, northern Arizona, and 

 California. 



2. Heuchera versicolor Greene, Leaflets 1 :112. 1905. 



Heuchera sitgreavesii Rydb., North Amer. Fl. 22:110. 1935. 



Apache County to Hualpai Mountain (Mohave County), south to 

 Cochise and Pima Counties, 7,100 to 12,000 feet, moist shaded rocks 



55 Reference: Rosexdahl, C. O., Butters, F. K., and Lakela, O. a monograph on the gents 

 HEUCHERA. Minn. Studies Plant Sci. 2: 1-180. 1936. 



