Common Name: hacquetia
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Apiaceae
Native Range: Eastern Europe
Zone: 5 to 7
Height: 0.25 to 0.50 feet
Spread: 0.50 to 1.00 feet
Bloom Time: March
Bloom Description: Yellow with green bracts
Sun: Part shade to full shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Heavy Shade
Culture
Best grown in organically rich, gritty, well-drained soils in part shade. Tolerates full shade. Likes consistently moist soils. Plants do not like to be disturbed once established. Propagate from seed. Plants may self-seed in the garden.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Hacquetia epipactis is native primarily to woodlands in the European Alps. It is a compact rhizomatous perennial that typically grows to 3” tall and slowly spreads by rhizomes to 6-12” wide. Flowers bloom in early spring before the foliage emerges. From a distance, each flower appears to have six large green petals (each to 3/4” long) and a small center of yellow flowers. But like the dogwood, the actual flowers here are the tiny, pinhead-like, yellow blooms that appear in scapose umbels. Each flower umbel is subtended by 5-6 green petal-like involucral bracts. After flowering, plants may continue to grow up to 4-6” tall. Three-lobed basal green leaves (to 3” long). Synonymous with and formerly known as Dondia epipactis.
Genus name honors Balthasar Hacquet (1740-1815), Austrian writer on alpine plants.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Watch for slugs and snails.
Uses
Shady areas of rock gardens, shade gardens or woodland areas. Small containers.