''Heuchera maxima'' is a species of flowering plant in the

saxifrage family Saxifragaceae is a family of herbaceous perennial flowering plants, within the core eudicot order Saxifragales. The taxonomy of the family has been greatly revised and the scope much reduced in the era of molecular phylogenetic analysis. The fa ...

, known by the common names island alum root, Channel Islands coral bells, and Jill of the rocks. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the four northern

Channel Islands of California The Channel Islands () are an eight-island archipelago located within the Southern California Bight in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. The four Northern Channel Islands are part of the Transverse Ranges geologic province, and ...

, within

Channel Islands National Park Channel Islands National Park consists of five of the eight Channel Islands of California, Channel Islands off the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Although the islands are close to the shore of the densely populate ...

. It grows on canyon cliffs in

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is w ...

habitats.

Description

''Heuchera maxima'' is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

perennial herb growing a broad patch of large, rounded, multilobed green leaves with long petioles and a fringe of hairs along the edges. It grows in height. It produces an erect

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

up to tall, with many clusters of hairy, glandular flowers. Each flower is rounded with fleshy white or pink lobes and tiny petals curling away from the center. The protruding

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are tipped with large anthers.

Cultivation

''Heuchera maxima'' is also cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

for traditional,

drought tolerant Drought tolerance is the ability to which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tolerance, detox ...

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

, and

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibians, rep ...

s. It prefers part shade, including as a

groundcover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought. In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as t ...

in dry shade conditions under oaks.Las Pilitas Nursery horticultural treatment: ''Heuchera maxima'' (island alum root)
. accessed 1.28.2013

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Heuchera maxima''''Heuchera maxima'' — U.C. Photo gallery
maxima Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Channel Islands of California ~ Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Groundcovers {{Saxifragaceae-stub

Description

Cultivation

See also

References

External links