Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Escarpment Foamflower - Tiarella austrina   (Lakela) Nesom
Members of Saxifragaceae:
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Section 6 » Family Saxifragaceae
Author(Lakela) Nesom
DistributionThis is a newly described species, in 2021. Throughout the southwestern third to half of the Mountains, north and east to Haywood, Buncombe, and Polk counties (Nesom 2022). Western Carolina University Herbarium lists a collection on SERNEC for Caldwell County, farther north than reported by Nesom (2022); this specimen might need confirmation.

"S. Blue Ridge of sw. NC, se. TN, nw. SC, ne. GA; disjunct slightly westwards in sc. TN and n. AL" (Weakley 2022).
AbundanceApparently fairly common to common, at least locally.
HabitatRich hardwood forests, cove forests, and similar hardwood forests. Note that habitat distinctions among the four species of Tiarella in NC have not been described.
Phenology
IdentificationSee T. cordifolia for the general description. There are two stoloniferous Tiarella species in NC, and this one has "Leaves usually with acute-acuminate lobes, terminal lobe prominently extended; flowering stem usually with 1–2 leaves or foliaceous bracts; sepals 1.5-2 mm long", versus "Leaves usually with obtuse to rounded lobes, terminal lobe not prominently extended; flowering stem very rarely with a small bract; sepals 2.5-3.5 mm long" for the newly-described T. stolonifera. Note that the newly defined T. cordifolia lacks herbaceous, leafy stolons (runners); it has a clumped look to the plants.
Taxonomic CommentsNesom (2021) described this and several other new species of Tiarella.

Other Common Name(s)None?
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