Liverleaf
What are they?
The plants in the genus Hepatica form a small group of eight species, spread through most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, most often in shady places in mountainous regions. They are related to the anemones and the pasque-flowers in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and, like them, the flowers consist of a double row of petaloid segments, often referred to as tepals - a word used to describe flower parts where the sepals and petals are not clearly different from each other.
Where are they found?
Liverleaf is often grown as a garden plant, especially as an 'alpine' or rockery plant. It has rarely been recorded as a garden throw-out or escape from cultivation.
Identification
The combination of flowers with colourful, petaloid segments arising before the distinctive, three-lobed leaves, readily identifies this plant.
Liverleaf Hepatica nobilis
Native to continental Europe. Popular as a rockery plant in gardens but only rarely beinging recorded from the wider countryside. In East Anglia, recorded from North Essex. Flowers March to April. Flowers typically pale violet or white in the wild but also pink or wine-coloured in garden populations. Leaves deeply three-parted, appearing after the first flowers and lasting into the winter period; green or with paler marks.
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