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Liverleaf

Liverleaf

Hepatica nobilis

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How common: Very common

Liverleaf is a small woodland plant that flowers very early in spring with bright blue to violet blooms. It is most often seen in rich deciduous and mixed forests and is also grown in gardens. Its firm, three‑lobed leaves stay green over winter and new leaves appear after flowering. Warning: all parts are poisonous.

Did you know?

  • Häme’s provincial flower.
  • Ants carry its seeds, helping it spread.

About the species

Identification

A low spring flower, usually 10–15 cm tall. Each short stalk carries one flower 1.5–3.5 cm across with 6–8 petal-like parts, mostly blue to blue‑violet but sometimes white or pink; the center is filled with many white or pale pink threads. Leaves are dark green, glossy and firm, in three rounded lobes; the underside is hairy and often reddish. Old leaves stay through winter, and new leaves grow after flowering. Wood anemone looks similar but has finer, many-part leaves and usually white flowers that lack evergreen leaves. Flowers in April–May.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

herb-rich forest

Toxicity

A poisonous plant – do not taste it. Source: HUS Poison Information Centre (Finland), tel. 0800 147 111.

Flowering

Apr–May

About the habitat

Grows in fertile broadleaf and mixed forests on fresh to fairly dry ground, also in leafy meadows and old wooded pastures. Often planted and naturalized in gardens; prefers well‑drained soils. Common in southern and southwestern Finland; rarer in central Finland.

Sources

Photo: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hepatica nobilis plant.JPG

Text: Pinkka: Kasvien talvi - Koululaisille: talvivihreät kasvit, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37890

Text: Pinkka: Yläkoulun Pinkka - Lehto, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37890

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37890

Text: Pinkka: Metsäkasvien peruslajintuntemus - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37890

Text: Pinkka: Maatalouslajintuntemus - Caryophyllaceae, Amaranthaceae, Polygonaceae, Violaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Begoniaceae, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37890

Text: Pinkka: Kasvien talvi - Talvivihreät luonnonkasvit, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37890

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinivuokko

See also