Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: herbaceous

These beautiful, small Hepatica flowers (growing at the Reader Rock Garden a couple of days ago) must have regretted blooming so early, as yesterday afternoon we had a very unpleasant windstorm and snowstorm! We desperately need all the moisture we can get, though, so it was not a bad thing for nature. "Hepatica (common names hepatica, liverleaf, or liverwort) is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants belonging to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. A native of central and northern Europe, Asia and northeastern North America ... Hepatica cultivation has been popular in Japan since the 18th Century (mid-Edo period), where flowers with doubled petals and a range of colour patterns have been developed ... Hepatica is named from its leaves, which, like the human liver (Greek hepar), have three lobes. It was once used as a medicinal herb. Owing to the doctrine of signatures, the plant was thought an effective treatment for liver disorders. Although poisonous in large doses, the leaves and flowers may be used as an astringent, demulcent for slow-healing injuries and as a diuretic." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatica

I've only ever seen this wildflower once - out at Elkton Bog, N or NW of Calgary, on 2 July 2009. Not my favourite kind of photo - cluttered - but I needed to upload it for a project. I believe it is Fairy Common in Alberta. Amazing how different the leaves are from those of the Star-flowered Solomon's-seal. We saw several new (to us) plants on that great day of botanizing, including one of my favourites, Sundew. I think it was on that trip that I was kneeling, with my elbows resting on the ground, in about 8" of water in order to photograph some of the plants, lol. If you only knew what we go through sometimes to get some of our images : ) www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/three-leaf-false-sol...