Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
American Alumroot
You may recognize this delicate wildflower as being similar to several common garden plant varieties.
This is because Heuchera americana is the progenitor of a wide range of hybrids developed to emphasize variations in the foliage, as well as the coloring of its delicate flowers.
We have grown one of these cultivated varieties, Coral Bells, in our garden for years.
This plant flourishes in a shady and damp environment, along with ferns, lichens, and mosses.
I found numerous colonies growing in the cracks of limestone outcrops along the shore of the Maury River in Virginia's Rockbridge County.
It grows in similar habitats northward to Connecticut and as far west as Illinois.
A native perennial, it puts out its spikes of tiny florets from May to August in Virginia.
Growing in these rocky niches, with the rugged surface of the limestone as a backdrop, the delicate flowers and pale green leaves of Heuchera americana are a striking addition to mid-summer fields in Virginia.
The common name, Alumroot, refers to the high alkaline content of its roots.
As late as the 19th century, the dried root was crushed and mixed in water as an astringent mouthwash in herbal medicine, as was Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum), which is also called by the same common name in some areas.
Go to the Main Directory to consider more lilies of the field.