Heartleaf Foamflowers are delightful plants with flowers composed of scores of short, straight off-white spikes tinged with pink that gives them an attractive frothy appearance. Native American communities found many uses for this plant which has airy clouds of dainty flowers. It is one of the showiest plants in the early summer in the woodlands of the eastern United States and Canada.
Tiarella cordifolia, or heartleaf foamflower is a shade loving perennial that is native throughout the eastern United States and Canada, including Connecticut. In the wild, it appears as a low-growing mound found on the banks of streams in conifer and mixed hardwood forests and in northern hardwood forests. The lobed, sharply toothed heart-shaped leaves are green in the spring and summer and turn red and bronze in the fall. Small, star-shaped feathery flowers stand above the foliage on 6-12 inch stems rising above a mound of attractive, lobed leaves. The long slender stamens give the flowers a frothy appearance. The plant usually begins to bloom in late May. This plant spreads by underground stems that form colonies. The flowers mature into small black seeds.
Medicinal Uses
Heartleaf Foamflower has no known edible uses. This plant was used as an oral and pediatric aid by many Native American communities. The Cherokee, for example, held an infusion made from this plant in their mouth to remove the white coat from their tongues. The Iroquois made a poultice of smashed roots and applied the mixture to wounds. They made an infusion of roots and leaves and gave it to children to fatten them up. An infusion of dried leaves was used as eye drops to treat sore eyes and an infusion of smashed roots was given to babies with sores in their mouths. The Malecite and the Micmac made an infusion of the roots to treat children and adults with diarrhea. The Iroquois also made a decoction of the entire plant and washed their rifles with this solution believing it to be a hunting medicine.
Did You Know...
Its botanical name, Tiarella means little crown, in reference to the Greek word tiara and is a reference to the shape of its seeds.
Cordifolia means heart-shaped and refers to the shape of the leaves.
Heartleaf Foamflower is a genus of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae.
Worldwide there are seven species of this flower, one in Eastern Asia, one in North America, and five species in Eastern North America.
Today, Heartleaf Foamflowers are popular ground covers in shade gardens.
The scent of Heartleaf Foam flowers attracts bees and other pollinators.
Other names include False Miterwort because it resembles Miterwort
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