This lovely early spring flower in the buttercup family can be found in Connecticut and throughout the Eastern United States. Besides skunk cabbage, this pretty flower with its not so pretty name is one of the first spring flowers to bloom in Connecticut. Native Americans found several interesting uses for this pretty perennial.
About The Liverwort
This delicate plant has ground-level fuzzy stems and blooms in the early spring. The flowers have three lobs and are delightfully rounded. The blossoms can be white, pink, or purple. After the plant flowers, it remains evergreen until the following spring. The leaves turn a deep red color in the fall. Because this plant retains its leaves it is able to photosynthesis on mild winter days to get a jump start on the spring season. The plant's name refers to the three-lobed flower which was thought to resemble a liver. Liverwort prefers partial shade and dry soil and can be found in deciduous, pine, and sometimes in spruce woods.
Medicinal Uses
The Chippewa made a decoction of the roots to treat children with convulsions and a poultice of this plant was made to treat sores and bruises. The plant is also used as a hunting medicine with the roots made into a charm and put on traps of fur-bearing animals. The Menominee made a compound decoction of the root and used the mixture to treat dysentery. The Nanticoke would chew the leaves to treat fever and the Potawatomi drank an infusion of the root and leaves to treat dizziness.
Did You Know...
Because of the shape of the flower, early herbalists assumed the plant would be effective in treating liver disease. This belief was based on a theory called the doctrine of signatures that held that a plant's resemblance to a part of the body was an indicator that it could be used to treat the disease of that organ.
This flower produces pollen but no nectar.
It is the official flower of the Sweden Democratic political party.
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