Downy alum-root

Heuchera pubescens var. brachyandra Rosendahl, Butters & Lakela

Herbs acaulescent; caudex branched. Flowering stems often leafy, 30-95 cm, short stipitate-glandular. Leaves: petiole glabrous or short stipitate-glandular; blade broadly ovate to cordate, shallowly 5-lobed, 3-9 cm, base cordate to nearly truncate, lobes rounded to widely ovate, margins dentate, apex acute or obtuse, surfaces glabrous or sparsely short stipitate-glandular, at least on veins abaxially. Inflorescences diffuse. Flowers: hypanthium moderately bilaterally symmetric, free 2-6.2 mm, green, campanulate, abruptly inflated distal to adnation to ovary, 5.5-13.2 mm, very short stipitate-glandular; sepals spreading, green-tipped, equal, 2-4.2 mm, apex rounded (sinuses narrower than petals); petals inflexed, pink or purple, broadly spatulate, unlobed, 2.4-4.4 mm, margins fimbriate; stamens 1.1 mm included to 3.7 mm exserted; styles from 0.6 mm included to 3 mm exserted, 4-6 mm, to 0.1 mm diam. Capsules ovoid, 7-11 mm, not papillose. Seeds dark brown, ellipsoid, 0.6-1 mm. 2n = 14.

Flowering May-Jun. Shaded circumneutral rock outcroppings, ledges, and rocky cuts; 100-1400 m; Md., N.C., Pa., S.C., Va., W.Va.

Heuchera pubescens intergrades with H. americana where their ranges overlap, primarily in the central Appalachians of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia; the intergrading form is recognized here as H. americana var. hispida. It is rare in South Carolina.