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Erigenia
Also called Harbingers Of Spring
Harbinger of spring (Erigenia bulbosa) is a small, early-blooming woodland perennial from the carrot family, the only species in its genus. It grows from a bulb and is best suited to a shaded, moist woodland garden where it can go dormant after flowering.
Erigenia bulbosa, also known as harbinger of spring or pepper and salt, is a flowering perennial plant in the family Apiaceae. E. bulbosa is the only species in the genus Erigenia and tribe Erigenieae. This plant is known as harbinger of spring because it is one of the earliest blooming native wildflowers of rich forests in the mid-latitude United States. Throughout most of its range it blooms from late February through early April.
Harbinger of spring is an occasional plant in rich hardwood forests of eastern North America. It is found as far north as central New York and southern Wisconsin, west to the western Ozarks, and south to central Alabama. It is also found in extreme southern Ontario.
The bulb is edible both cooked and raw. The Cherokee were known to chew this plant as medicine for toothaches; it is unknown what parts of plant they chewed. This plant is sometimes used in native wildflower gardens throughout its range.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Erigenia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
