Our mountains boast incredibly rich flora, and every flower reveals an interesting story. One of those stories involves Anemone hepatica. Its common name is liverwort and it’s one of the first spring flowers bringing colour to the forest floor. The petals can be white or pink, but most flowers are a bright blueish-purple. The colourful petals with bright yellow and white reproductive organs in the centre of the flower make hepatica without a doubt one of the most beautiful spring flowers in the Alps. But it’s not only it’s beauty that makes this an extraordinary plant.
Ants help with seed dispersal
Like with most flowering plant species, the brightly coloured petals of hepatica attract pollinators, such as solitary bees, but hepatica also relies on insects for its seed dispersal. And here it becomes interesting, because the seeds have nutritious structures (called elaiosomes) which are very attractive to ants. That’s why the ants carry the seeds to their nests where they feed the elaiosomes to their larvae. Afterwards the ants deposit the (undamaged) seeds in a waste area of the nest: an ideal location to germinate. This way both the ants and hepatica gain tremendously from this extraordinary relationship between flower and insect.
Where to find Anemone hepatica
In the Alps, look for hepatica on the forest floor of mixed or deciduous forest, preferably on lime stone soil. The flowers will bloom in early spring (March/April). The dark green leaves appear after the flowering season and stay green over winter.
If you step into the natural world with Simone, her passion for all living things—wild flowers to lichen, birds to mammals—can’t help but rub off on you. She’s excited to meet you on your Tour du Mont Blanc and share the amazing natural wonders in the Alps.
- The Alps: A Biodiversity Treasure Trove - December 10, 2020
- Flora in the Alps – Spotlight on the Alpenrose - June 25, 2020
- Tour du Mont Blanc Hightlight: The Contamines-Montjoie Nature Reserve - May 21, 2020