Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Order: Solanales

Family: Hydrophyllaceae -- waterleaf

Variety: The Palouse phase is var. capitatum

Common Name: ballhead waterleaf, woolly breeches

Species Code: HYCA4, HYCAC

Origin: Native to moist places, especially in the shade of thickets or shrubs from southern British Columbia to Oregon and east to Montana and Colorado.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial from a short rhizome, roots fibrous, 10-40 cm tall; stems few, spreading to ascending, hirsute to strigose.

Mature height: 4-10 inches

Duration: perennial

Longevity: medium lifespan

Habitat Type: shrub thickets, forest

Wetland Indicator Status: not listed

Leaves: basal, up to 10 cm long and 15 cm wide, long petiolate, exceeding the flowers, pinnatifid with 7-11 deeply lobed leaflets; the lobes uneven, oblong to elliptic-oblong, tips rounded to acute.

Flowers: borne in a compact, globose cluster on short peduncles; calyx hairy, parted into linear-oblong lobes; corolla 5-9 mm long, 5-lobed, bluish-purple to lavender, occasionally white; styles and stamens exserted.

Flower color: purple, rarely white

Bloom: April, May, into June in protected locations

Bloom starts on: mid April

Bloom ends on: early June

Fruit: capsule, globose, containing 1-3 seeds; seeds about 3 mm long, ovoid, brown.

Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
900,000 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).
Perennating organ is a very short rhizome.
n=9 (Hitchcock et al 1969, Baldwin et al 2004).
Insect pollinated (Beckmann 1979). Osmia lignaria is a common pollen collector in Utah (Levin 1966).
Flowers are perfect.
Roots and young shoots are edible.
Fruit is a capsule.
Flowers are self compatible but also outcross (Beckmann 1979).
Seed is primarily dispersed by water, ants may occasionally move seed (Beckmann 1979).
Plants are eaten by bear, deer, and elk (Craighead et al 1963). It is a highly valuable forage for Rocky Mountain elk in summer (Kufeld 1979).

Sun requirement: partial to full shade

Soil moisture: mesic

Precipitation: 16-30 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).

Sowing time: fall

Transplant time: fall

Stratification: probably needs cold moist stratification

Seed yield: low

Seed harvest: difficult

Seed cleaning: easy

Planting duration: moderate

Seed insect problem: none noted

Seed shatter: high

Seed size: medium

Seed harvest date: June

Seed comments: Plants are very short and often overtopped by other vegetation before seed ripens.

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Key words: native perennial upland forb

Propagation:
11 months cold moist stratification only gave 2.7% germination. All other treatments including high temperatures, light, sulfuric acid scarification, mechanical scarification, and a combination scarification and stratification were unsuccessful (Pelton 1956).
The roots of the eastern North American species H. appendiculatum emerge after 90 days of warm moist stratification. Cotyledons then require 85 days cold moist stratification. In the field, roots grow in the fall after summer temperatures and shoots emerge in the spring (Baskin & Baskin 1985).
Seed of H. macrophyllum, another eastern species, sends out roots after 2-4 weeks of warm moist stratification. Cotyledons then require 6 weeks cold moist stratification to emerge. In the field, roots grow in the fall after summer temperatures and shoots emerge in the spring (Baskin & Baskin 1983).
Reproduces sexually by seed.

Notes: Hydrophyllum capitatum is an interesting little plant for shady areas. It flowers, then goes dormant rather early in the season. Mark the plants so you don’t hoe or dig them up by accident during the summer and fall. Germination requirements are unknown, but it probably needs to be sown in the fall outdoors. Common names include ballhead waterleaf, wool breeches (Skinner et al 2005).

References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 10/3/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html

Baskin, Jerry M., and Carol C. Baskin. 1985. Germination Ecophysiology of Hydrophyllum appendiculatum, a Mesic Forest Biennial. American Journal of Botany 72:185-190.

Baskin, Jerry M., and Carol C. Baskin. 1983. Germination Ecophysiology of Eastern Deciduous Forest Herbs: Hydrophyllum macrophyllum. American Midland Naturalist 109:63-71.

Beckmann, Robert L., Jr. 1979. Biosystematics of the Genus Hydrophyllum L. (Hydrophyllaceae). American Journal of Botany 66:1053-1061.

Craighead, John J., Frank C. Craighead, and Ray J. Davis. 1963. A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, MA.

Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.

Kufeld, Roland. 1973. Foods Eaten by the Rocky Mountain Elk. Journal of Range Management 26:106-113.

Levin, M.D. 1966. Biological Notes on Osmia lignaria and Osmia californica (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Megachilidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 39:524-535.

Pelton, John. 1956. A Study of Seed Dormancy in Eighteen Species of High Altitude Colorado Plants. Butler University Botanical Studies 13:74-84.

Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. More Palouse Forbs for Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/More_Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf

USDA NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 3 October 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium