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Common Name: Foamflower, Heart-lead foamflower
Herbal Action: antacid, antidiarrheal, diuretic, expectorant, tonic
Used to Treat: children's ailments, eye ailments, gravel, mouth ailments, obesity, oliguria, orthopedic ailments, skin ailments, stones. It has been used for kidney problems, liver problems, and lung congestion.
Indigenous Use: German, Iroquois, Micmac
Range: U.S., Allegheny Portage Railroad National Hist, Blue Ridge Parkway, Booker T. Washington National Monument, Chattahoochee River, Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, Friendship Hill National Historic Site, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Johnstone Flood National Memorial, Kings Mountain National Military Park, Mammoth Cave National Park, Obed Wild & Scenic River, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Tiarella cordifolia, the heartleaf foamflower, heartleaved foamflower, Allegheny foamflower, false miterwort, or coolwort, is a species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant native to North America.
Description
Tiarella cordifolia has a scaly horizontal rhizome and seasonal runners. The leaves are 5–10 cm (2–4 in)long, basal, long stalked, hairy, with 3-7 shallow lobes, and heart-shaped at the base. They are dark green usually mottled with brown, rough-hairy above and downy beneath. They have long flowering stems that can grow as tall as 30 cm (12 in). The flowers are white, small and feathery and form a long terminal cluster on a leafless stalk. The inflorescences are 15–30 cm (6–12 in) tall, with the flowers borne in close, erect racemes. The flowers have 5 petals (entire) and 10 stamens (long and slender), giving the flower cluster a fuzzy appearance. The two unequal seed capsules split along their inside seams, releasing several pitted seeds.
This tiarella spreads well by rhizomes, unlike other cultivated tiarellas, but lacks the invasive tendencies of many more-commonly employed groundcovers.
The flowers are visited by small bees, syrphus flies, and butterflies that may affect pollination.
Family Saxifragaceae antacid antidiarrheal diuretic expectorant tonic
children's ailments, eye ailments, gravel, mouth ailments, obesity, oliguria, orthopedic ailments, skin ailments, stones