Featured Plant: Heuchera Obsidian

Filed in Featured Plants, Groundcover on September 7, 2011 with no comments

Image courtesy Trents Nursery

The glossy midnight hues of this dark foliaged heuchera won’t fade out during summer. The ultra-dark leaves contrast beautifully with greens, blues and silver. Suitable as edging, ground cover or in containers. Cold hardy, heat and humidity tolerant. Eventual Height: 15cm X Width: 35cm

From Wikipedia:

Heuchera
Heuchera elegans in Mount Wilson (California)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Saxifragaceae
Genus: Heuchera
L.
Species

See text

The genus Heuchera (play /ˈhjuːkɨrə/)[1] includes at least 50 species of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Saxifragaceae, all native to North America. Common names include alumroot and coral bells. They have palmately lobed leaves on long petioles, and a thick, woody rootstock. The genus was named after Johann Heinrich von Heucher (1677–1746), an 18th century German physician.

Alumroot species grow in varied habitats, so some species look quite different from one another, and have varying preferences regarding temperature, soil, and other natural factors. H. maxima is found on the Channel Islands of California, where it grows on rocky, windy, saline-washed ocean shores. H. sanguinea, called coral bells because of its terra cotta-colored flowers, can be found in the warm, dry canyons of Arizona. Gardeners and horticulturists have developed a multitude of hybrids between various Heuchera species. There is an extensive array of blossom sizes, shapes, and colors, foliage types, and geographic tolerances.

Contents

Food and medicinal uses

Though tangy and slightly astringent, the leaves may be used to liven up bland greens.

Natives of the Northwest U.S. have used tonic derived of Alumroot roots to aid digestive difficulties, but extractions from the root can also be used to stop minor bleeding, reduce inflammation, and otherwise shrink moist tissues after swelling.

Cultivation

The majority of Heuchera sold for gardens are hybrids of H. americana, such as 'Green Spice' (see illustration). [2] The original 'Purple palace' discovered in a Royal Palace in England is believed to be a H micrantha x H villosa hybrid, (New England Guide 2000) which was then crossed with H americana. A further group of hybrids arose from crossing Heuchera with Tiarella, to form Heucherella.

Selected species

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Heuchera

Gallery

  • Heuchera x brizoides

  • Heuchera americana 'Green Spice'

  • Heuchera 'Starry Night'

References

  1. ^ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
  2. ^ Armitage's Garden Perennials
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuchera

 




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