Hepatica

These beautiful, small Hepatica flowers (growing at the Reader Rock Garden a couple of days ago) must have regretted blooming so early, as yesterday afternoon we had a very unpleasant windstorm and snowstorm! We desperately need all the moisture we can get, though, so it was not a bad thing for nature.

"Hepatica (common names hepatica, liverleaf, or liverwort) is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants belonging to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. A native of central and northern Europe, Asia and northeastern North America ... Hepatica cultivation has been popular in Japan since the 18th Century (mid-Edo period), where flowers with doubled petals and a range of colour patterns have been developed ... Hepatica is named from its leaves, which, like the human liver (Greek hepar), have three lobes. It was once used as a medicinal herb. Owing to the doctrine of signatures, the plant was thought an effective treatment for liver disorders. Although poisonous in large doses, the leaves and flowers may be used as an astringent, demulcent for slow-healing injuries and as a diuretic." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatica