Description
Fat creeping rhizomes suddenly produce a polished umbrella of lizard green with a coppery sheen that fades as it unfurls and matures.
The large green flower bud sits below the leaves and matures and opens to a lovely, quite large, white, up-facing blossom.
I was amazed to see in Spring 2012 to see that almost all of ours were not only larger than expected (I have just measured a typical one at 6.5cm in diameter), but they were pale pink when in flower. I had always imagined them to be white only. The flowers are lovely in their own right but are later followed by a fat, green, crab-apple-like fruit.
The plant slowly makes an open clump but is never bad-mannered and always lovely.
Easy in the peat garden, or in almost any “woodsey” spot with humus worked in. It looks very good under a small, open shrub such as a Japanese Maple. Part sun (full sun if not allowed to dry out) or light shade.
The sole representative of the genus in North America.
