Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: littleflower alumroot
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Saxifragaceae
Native Range: Southeastern United States
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 0.50 to 1.50 feet
Spread: 0.50 to 1.00 feet
Bloom Time: July to September
Bloom Description: White to pale pink
Sun: Part shade to full shade
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Rabbit, Deer, Shallow-Rocky Soil
Culture
Best grown in evenly moist to dry, well-draining soil in part shade to full shade. Tolerant of a wide range of growing conditions including shallow, rocky soils, full sun, and dry shade. Intolerant of overly moist, poorly drained soils. Hardy in Zones 5-9.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Heuchera parviflora, commonly called littleflower alumroot or cave alumroot, is a herbaceous perennial native to the southern Appalachian Mountains and Appalachian Plateau from West Virginia south to Alabama, and west through the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas. It can be found growing on shaded or north-facing rocky cliffs, ledges, and undercuts. Mature plants will have clumps of basal foliage reaching around 6-8" tall with a 6-12" spread. The more or less circular to reniform (kidney-shaped) leaves will reach 1-5" wide, with 5-7 shallow lobes and scalloped margins. The lower leaf surfaces are often purplish in color. The inflorescences can reach 3.5-17.5" long and are made up of open panicles of small, white to pink-tinted flowers with reflexed petals held on upright, leafless flowering stalks. Blooming begins in mid-summer and lasts to early fall. The leaves, petioles, and flowering stalks are covered in glandular hairs, giving them a sticky texture.
Variety puberula is found only in the Ozarks, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and several sites in central Kentucky. It is distinguished from the species by having a denser covering of comparatively shorter glandular hairs.
Genus name honors Johann Heinrich von Heucher (1677-1747), physician, botanist and medicinal plant expert at Wittenberg University, Germany.
The specific epithet parviflora means "small flowered", in reference to the size of the flowers of this species.
The infraspecific epithet puberula means "having tiny hairs", in reference to the pubescence of this variety which distinguishes it from the species.
The common name littleflower alumroot refers to the size of the flowers and the common name cave alumroot refers to the preferred habitat of this species
Problems
No major pest or disease problems of note. Deer and rabbits tend to avoid this plant.
Uses
Woodland gardens, woodland edges, rock gardens, mixed border fronts. Can be massed to create a small-scale ground cover. Suitable for use in large container plantings.