Vascular Plants of North Carolina

Vascular Plants of North Carolina

Account for Heartleaf Foamflower - Tiarella cordifolia L.

Section 6 » Order Rosales » Family Saxifragaceae

Show/Hide Synonym

Author	L.
Distribution	Nesom (2021) described several new species of Tiarella, and thus redefined the range and characters of this original Tiarella species. Throughout the Piedmont, though slightly less widespread in the far northeastern counties in the Piedmont. Ranges sparingly into the northern Mountains, and barely ranges into the Coastal Plain, along the Cape Fear River into Cumberland County. There seem to be no specimens in SERNEC from east of Granville and Wake counties, though sight records are known. Apparently absent from the well-worked Roanoke River floodplain and slopes in Halifax and Northampton counties. This newly defined species ranges north only to southern MD, and south to eastern GA.
Abundance	Common and widespread across all of the Piedmont. However, infrequent in the far northeastern Piedmont and also the far southeastern counties -- yet in Wake, Lee, and Harnett counties -- between these two regions, this is a very numerous species. Rare and local into the Coastal Plain in Cumberland County. Likely rare to uncommon above the Blue Ridge Escarpment into the northern Mountains.
Habitat	This is a classic species of rich wooded slopes -- Basic Mesic Forests and richer Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forests. It also can grow in bottomland forests, though it prefers to grow on slopes. It is not as limited to seepages or other wet/damp ground, or rocky ground, as are other members of the saxifrage family. It often grows in fairly dense stands of several dozen plants, but it is not stoloniferous as are two newly described foamflower species.
Phenology	Blooms from April into June, and fruits shortly after flowering.
Identification	This is a very familiar spring wildflower, known to all biologists, unless they restrict their field work to the Coastal Plain. As with others in the family, it has several rather large basal leaves, on long petioles. These petioles are about 4-5 inches long, and each blade is roughly rounded to heart-shaped, 3-4 inches long and wide, cordate at the base, weakly dissected into 3-5 shallow lobes, and strongly serrated along the margin. These leaves look remarkably like those of Heuchera species, and thus you may need to wait until a flowering stalk is present for identification. This stalk grows to about 1-1.5 feet tall, naked, with the top 4-5 inches containing a dense and conical panicle of white flowers. The inflorescence contains several dozen flowers, each being about 1/3-inch across, but the white spire of flowers about 1.5-2 inches wide and about 4-5 inches long is hard to miss when you are walking on a rich wooded slope. Why it seems to be absent along the rich Roanoke River slopes, and in nearby areas, and along the SC line near the Fall Line, is puzzling. See the Identification section of other Tiarella species for separation from them; not that the newly defined T. cordifolia is not stoloniferous and thus does not occur in extensive colonies.
Taxonomic Comments	Nesom described a handful of new species in the genus in 2021. Note the great importance of the presence or absence of stolons, plus presence or absence of small stem leaves or bracts.
Other Common Name(s)	Foamflower, Allegheny Foamflower, False Miterwort, Coolwort. As there is another species in the Western states, using Foamflower in the name -- i.e., Lace Foamflower (T. trifoliata), it is certainly best to use the single word "Foamflower" for the common name for the genus, and not a particular species. Thus, NatureServe and this website add a modifier name for the widespread eastern species -- most frequent is Heartleaf Foamflower (or Heart-leaved Foamflower). Of course, in normal usage in NC, the species can certainly just be called as "Foamflower".
State Rank	S5
Global Rank	G5
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcp	FAC link
USACE-emp	FAC link

County Map - click on a county to view source of record.

Photo Gallery

photographer	comments	photo_link	county	obsType
B.A. Sorrie	Smith Creek floodplain, April 2015.		Anson		Photo_natural