Notes on Hepatica americana

Notes on Hepatica americana (DC.) Ker Gawl. – Round lobed Hepatica

Anemone americana (de Candolle) H. Hara (Flora of North America)

The typical H. americana has rounded lobed leaves and flowers in various shades from wihite to deep blue, pink (rarely). The main difference from H. acutiloba consists in the round lobed leaves. They can vary greatly in size, 3-15 cm, have 3 (4) lobes and be strongly villous to glabrescent. The middle lobe: 50-70(75)% of total blade length. The involucral bracts have an obtuse apex. Flowers, white to pink or bluish; heads of achenes spherical, pedicel 0,1-0,4 cm.

The reason I insist on these characters laid out in Flora of North America is because various forms in the wild may or not fall into the description (please see – Intermediate forms).

In areas with large populations it is easy to observe variations not only in the flower colors, but also in foliage size/coloration. Some specimens have leaves which will develop an interesting marbled look by late fall.

In SW Ontario populations, the flowers are mainly light blue or a very nice violet; white flowers are found more localized and pink flowers are extremely rare. Variations,  like deep blue, white/striped flowers together with semi-double (filled) flowers can also be encountered. Please see more pictures in the galleries.

One year I made a color chart to better explain the colors, you can read the post here with explanations here: Hepatica americana colors.

Forms with very small leaves towards the 3 cm limit are also very rare. As well, forms with more than 3 lobes are not often seen (again in SW Ontario). And generally speaking, the shape of the lobes varies greatly.

To the extreme of leaves variability, there is a special mutant form with greatly reduced rounded lobes, which I called Hepatica ‘Butterfly’; the flowers are almost sterile.

Specimens of H. americana with unisexuate flowers show up once in a while in the wild; they remain in flower much longer and so are easily noticed when present (white and blue flowers).

Multipetal forms are quite rare in Hepatica americana populations, but once in a while it is possible to stumble upon one of them. I never found yet, a fully doubled or other doubling variations like transformed anthers or stigmas, so often seen in H. japonica.

Hepatica americana is found growing in rich beech-maple forests, often in drier sites, with hickory, oak, pine (spruce, cedar), with more acid soils than H. acutiloba, and I should add, often on rocky ravines and woodland slopes.

Growing mostly underneath deciduous trees, they get and like to have a good amount of sun in early spring and fall, and remain under shade for the rest of time; for successful cultivation it is best to try and reproduce the same conditions.
They can also be grown in containers (I had one for years) in which case it is easy to supply the required light by moving them in and out of the direct sun.

Named forms of Hepatica americana are listed on a separate page: Named forms and collection numbers.

For more pictures and other info please see (links):
Hepatica – the queens of the woodlands
Hepatica americana and a checklist
Hepatica americana – Easter Edition (2022)