Creeping Foamflower

Appearance

"Tiarella stolonifera" is a perennial, herbaceous plant with a short, slender rhizome. It has a leafless flowering stem and relatively small basal leaves without an extended terminal lobe. Most importantly, the species has the ability to produce stolons.

The heart-shaped basal leaves of "Tiarella stolonifera" resemble those of species in other genera. For example, "T. stolonifera" is sometimes confused with "Mitella diphylla", a closely-related species that occurs over a similar range and habitat. If a plant lacks sufficient evidence of flowering, the orientation of the hairs on the basal leaf stalk may be used to distinguish the two species. "T. stolonifera" has dense spreading hairs of various lengths while "M. diphylla" has long retrorse hairs sparsely distributed along its basal leaf stalk.To positively identify "Tiarella stolonifera", all of the following key features must be verified :

⤷  Stolon present
⤷  Basal leaves usually about as long as wide
⤷  Basal leaf lobes usually obtuse to rounded with the terminal lobe not extended
⤷  Flowering stem without leaves or foliaceous bracts

The key features listed above are similar to those of "Tiarella cordifolia" but the presence of a stolon rules out that species.

Distribution

"Tiarella stolonifera" has the widest range of any "Tiarella" species in eastern North America, from Wisconsin across the eastern half of the Great Lakes region into the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, and from there, south into Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. It is the only species of "Tiarella" in the following 17 provinces and states:

⤷  "Canada": New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec
⤷  "United States": Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin

"Tiarella stolonifera" and at least one other species of "Tiarella" are found in five additional states. Relevant counties include:

⤷  "Kentucky": Bell, Carter, Clay, Elliot, Estill, Floyd, Gallatin, Garrard, Greenup, Harlan, Jackson, Jessamine, Jefferson, Johnson, Kenton, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lincoln, Madison, Martin, McCreary, Menifee, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Whitley, Wolfe, Woodford
⤷  "Maryland": Allegany, Garrett, Harford, Washington
⤷  "North Carolina": Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, Yancy
⤷  "Tennessee": Anderson, Campbell, Carter, Claiborne, Grainger, Greene, Hancock, Hawkins, Knox, Morgan, Roane, Scott, Unicoi, Union, Washington
⤷  "Virginia": Bath, Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Dickenson, Floyd, Giles, Grayson, Highland, Pulaski, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, Wythe

The ranges of "Tiarella stolonifera" and "Tiarella wherryi" overlap in Kentucky and Tennessee. The ranges of "Tiarella stolonifera" and "Tiarella cordifolia" sensu stricto overlap in western North Carolina. Both "Tiarella stolonifera" and "Tiarella austrina" occur in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

"Tiarella stolonifera" is typically found in moist, rich, deciduous woods with a fairly open understory, in partial to full shade. Trees associated with the species include sugar maple, white ash, yellow birch, American beech, eastern hemlock, and northern white-cedar.

In Wisconsin, "T. stolonifera" occurs in mature, second-growth sugar maple-beech or hemlock-hardwood forest with sparse shrub layers. In its usual streamside habitat, the soil is very moist due to a high water table. The ground flora is rich with spring ephemerals and other herbaceous species, including "Dicentra", "Cardamine", "Viola", and "Mitella diphylla". In Michigan, it is found in deciduous and mixed woods, often in wet hollows or springy places.

In the Adirondack Mountains of New York, "T. stolonifera" commonly occurs on low-acidic sites under northern hardwoods, but it is also found along brooks in coniferous forests where organic acids cannot readily accumulate. In the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, it is found in dense colonies at the edges of seeps and ephemeral streams. The species was probably an important element of the ground flora in at least parts of the original hemlock-white pine-northern hardwoods forest of New England.

In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, "T. stolonifera" is found on fairly strong calcareous soils where there is some seepage water flowing to the surface. In New Brunswick, it is most often found in "Thuja"-dominated habitats, especially valley slopes and creek valley floors. In southern Ontario, it typically occurs in better-quality cedar seepage swamps and cedar-dominated riparian habitats.

Status

Based on the individual state rankings of "Tiarella cordifolia" sensu lato, it may be inferred that "Tiarella stolonifera" is globally secure. It is vulnerable at best in Nova Scotia and critically imperiled in Wisconsin. It is also critically imperiled in New Jersey.