Hepatica nobilis Red Forest

Hepatica nobilis 'Red Forest' offers the most brilliant flowering in this new series of noble liverworts. Beautifully star-shaped, they are a more or less violet magenta-red, a colour enhanced by a small crown of white stamens. This adorable little undergrowth plant will brighten up rockeries and partially shaded borders in the garden, from the end of winter. Perennial but wandering, it likes to self-seed wherever it pleases: the plant for which you thought you had chosen the ideal spot can disappear for a reason known only to itself, and 'move' at its convenience into one of your flowering pots or an unexpected place in the garden, forming here and there lovely cushions of olive-green trilobed leaves, which are decorative even in winter.

Hepatica nobilis, also known as liverwort or liverleaf, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Ranunculaceae family. It is present in almost all of Europe, as well as in Siberia and boreal America. Generally found in mountainous regions, it thrives in woods on limestone and well-drained soil. The varieties of the 'Forest' series are the result of cross-breeding with the subspecies Hepatica nobilis var. japonica, which has large flowers of variable colours and foliage that is often marbled, but less robust than our European hepatica.

The 'Red Forest' cultivar develops slowly from a short, fibrous stump, forming a cushion about 15 cm (6 in) in all directions. This small, fluffy plant produces rosettes of tough, petiolate leaves, divided into 3 rounded lobes, with shiny olive-green on top and reddish-brown or purple on the undersides. The foliage generally persists in winter. Flowering takes place in March-April, earlier or later depending on the climate. Each flower, about 3-4 cm (1-2 in) in diameter, borne on a petiole just above the foliage, consists of 8 oval petals arranged in a star shape. The colour of this 'Red Forest' variety can vary from purple-red to magenta, creating a very pretty bouquet of shades on this tiny plant.

Plant Hepaticas in groups of at least 6 to create a beautiful mass effect, in undergrowth, in any slightly shaded areas, in rockeries or along paths or borders, but always in well-drained soil. They are charming when planted alongside early-flowering bulbs such as botanical crocuses, eranthis, narcissus or Iris reticulata, for example. In a shaded rockery or in the crevices of a slightly damp old stone wall, they will also mix well with ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis), maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes), or rustyback fern (Ceterach officinarum). They also pair well with pansies and primroses in flowering pots.

Properties:

Hepatica nobilis is also a medicinal plant. Its name "hepatica" comes from the shape of its leaves, with 3 lobes, which may resemble that of the liver, as well as the reddish-brown colour on the undersides that vaguely resembles that of this organ. According to the so-called "doctrine of signatures", which held authority in the Middle Ages, this little plant was reputed to heal the liver.