Tiarella wherryi Lakela

Wherry's Foamflower

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Southern Foamflower is a native herbaceous perennial in the Saxifrage family (Saxifragaceae). It is native to the northern half of Alabama and reappears south of the Black Belt in the Red Hills region. Southern Foamflower is found along streams, on steep slopes under hardwoods, and in ravines. It is a perennial from a scaly rhizome. The leaves are basal, petiolate, pubescent, cordate to ovate in outline, with 3-5 palmate lobes and serrate margins. The leaves are semi-evergreen and often mottled with purplish-red. They often become bronzy during the winter months. Flowers are produced in racemes. The rachis and pedicels are glandular pubescent. Individual flowers are perfect with 5 white petals and 10 white stamens. The fruit is a capsule. Southern Foamflower is often available from native plant nurseries. It prefers a moist but well-draining soil that is rich in organic matter, and full to partial shade.—A. Diamond

Tiarella wherryi does not produce leafy stolons like the other Tiarella species in Alabama, T. austrina.

Native

<a href=http://www.phytoneuron.net/2021Phytoneuron/31PhytoN-Tiarella.pdf>Nesom, G.L. 2021. Taxonomy of Tiarella (Saxifragaceae) in the eastern U.S.A. Phytoneuron 2021-31: 1-61.</a>