Description
Jeffersonia diphylla is an easy, hardy, early blooming, shade perennial. Its cleft leaf superficially appears to be two leaves, hence the common name of “Twinleaf”. This has a distinctly blue appearance contrasting with a pale underside.
It grows 20-50 cm tall, (short in flower, taller later). Very early in spring it covers itself in pure white flowers 2.5 cm across. These have 8 petals with a contrasting, bright chrome yellow centre. Though each Jeffersonia flower is short lived their abundance and succession assures that the display is long lasting. They associate well with Sanguinaria, which blooms at the same time.
Below ground Jeffersonia grows from a knobbly, yellow-brown, fibrous, horizontal rhizome.
In the wild this inhabits humus-rich, deciduous woods over limestone, but it lives within the humus layer and does not need limestone in cultivation. A spot with a humus-rich, moist but well drained soil in light shade is fine.
Picture © Kevin Gepford, under <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en” target = “_blank”>Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported</a> licence, with thanks.
