Heuchera chlorantha

From Puget Prairie Plants
  • Scientific Name: Heuchera chlorantha
  • Family: Saxifragaceae
  • Common Names: green-flowered alumroot, meadow alumroot, tall alumroot
  • Codon: HEUCHL

Photo by Rod Gilbert, also featured on Main Page

Taxonomy

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Viridiplantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Spermatophytina
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Saxifraganae
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Saxifragaceae
Genus: Heuchera L.
Species: Heuchera chlorantha Piper

[1]

Description

Branching perennial from rhizomes[2], 4-10 dm tall.[3]

Leaves basal, palmately lobed, obovate to sub-reniform in shape,[3] leaf stems and bases densely covered with soft hairs.[2] Leaf stipules membranous, fused to leaf stalks.[3]

Densely-flowered, spike-like inflorescence.[3] Calyx is green.[2] Stamens 5, opposite the 5 corolla lobes.[3]

Seeds covered in slightly tapered spines in longitudinal rows.[2]

Bloom Period

May-August.[4]

Distribution

Central BC to southern Oregon, west Cascades and in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington, on both sides of Cascades in Oregon.[2]

Habitat

Mesic to moist grassy bluffs, streambanks, meadows, rocky river banks, roadsides and forest margins, gravelly prairies and thickets in the lowland and montane zones.[3][2]

Uses

There are many important species in the Heuchera genus, both for medicine and tanning, because of their generally extremely astringent roots.

Heuchera chlorantha is a nectar source for many species of native bumblebees.[5]

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References

  1. Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved from https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=24344
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Hitchcock, C. L., Cronquist, A., Giblin, D., & Legler, B. et al. (2018). Flora of the Pacific Northwest: an illustrated manual. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2020. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed:2020-06-10 1:03:07 PM]
  4. WTU Herbarium, Burke Museum, & University of Washington. Retrieved from https://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Heuchera%20chlorantha
  5. Heuchera chlorantha. Green-flowered Alumroot - Heuchera chlorantha . http://www.heritageseedlings.com/page_819_52/heuchera-chlorantha.