Common AlumrootIdentification: Flowers greenish, bell-shaped, nodding from short flower stalks. Petals small, green, sometimes tinged with red. Stamens protruding from the end of the flower. Flowers arranged in a long, leafless flower spike, with individual flowers on short flower stalks, not crowded. Leaves basal, rounded, lobed or slightly cut. Plant 2 to 3 feet in height. Native.
Distribution: Michigan to New England, southward to Georgia and Louisiana.
Habitat: Alumroot is typically found in dry or rocky woods.
Flowering period: May to August.
Heucheras have tough knotty roots used in traditional medicines by Native Americans. It has powerfully astringent properties, hence the name Alum Root or Alumroot.
And for the gardener:
Alumroot is a low-growing perennial, valued especially for its very attractive evergreen foliage. In the basic species, Heuchera americana, leaves are slightly ruffled and reniform and green with silver between the veins, becoming reddish with cold weather. From neat 1 foot mounds, slender spikes bearing tiny pinkish-green flowers rise a foot or more above the foliage in May. The flowers look like they are perpetually in bud and are themselves not particularly showy but the effect is nice, like a cloud or haze about the plant. Alumroot grows naturally on basic (limy) rock outcrops and well-drained, rich, wooded slopes. It is quite at home in part sun or shade, making it very adaptable for garden use. Use it in along a path for edging, in the rock garden, or for color accent. The foliage is outstanding.
