Epimedium alpinum Seeds | Alpine Barrenwort
LATIN NAME: Epimedium alpinum
COMMON NAME: Alpine Barrenwort
Plant Profile
Alpine barrenwort is a low, clump-forming perennial of the barberry family, native to the mountains of southern Europe, from the Alps to the Balkans. It grows twenty to thirty centimetres tall, with heart-shaped, divided leaves that are bronze when young and turn reddish in autumn.
The flowers appear in mid-spring, small and composed of red sepals and yellow spurs, held above the foliage on wiry stems. The plant spreads slowly by rhizome into a dense carpet, and it keeps its leaves through winter in mild areas. The leaves are held on wiry stems, and they keep their colour even in deep shade.
Science & Biotechnology
The genus is known for icariin, the compound found in the Chinese species used as yin yang huo, and research on Epimedium has looked at the variation in flavonoid content between species. Alpine barrenwort itself is not the main medicinal species, but it is used in breeding for its hardiness and its tolerance of dry shade.
Studies of its pollination have looked at the small bees that visit the spurred flowers, and its rhizome growth has been measured to understand how the plant colonises woodland floors. Its leaf anatomy explains why it keeps colour in shade, where most plants turn green and weak.
Uses & Benefits
It is one of the best ground covers for dry shade under trees, where its dense root mat suppresses weeds and its spring flowers give colour before the canopy closes. It is also useful on shady banks, where its rhizomes hold soil.
The foliage keeps its shape through winter in mild areas, and it combines well with hellebores, ferns and snowdrops. Its tolerance of dry shade under established trees makes it valuable where grass will not grow and where watering is impossible.
In European folk practice the root was used as a tonic, in the same way as the Asian species, though the plant is not the commercial source of yin yang huo. In the garden its main value is structural: a dense, weed-proof mat that looks good in leaf from March to November.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed as soon as it is ripe, since it loses viability quickly; germination is slow and may take two seasons. Plant out in shade or part shade in humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil, and mulch with leaf mould.
Divide clumps in early autumn if they become crowded, and cut off the old foliage in late winter so the flowers are not hidden. Water in the first summer, then leave the plant to look after itself. In dry shade, water the plants in their first two summers and then leave them, since established clumps tolerate drought. The old leaves can be cut in late winter, which makes the flowers easier to see.
Our Take
A quiet, useful plant that does the hardest job in a garden, covering dry shade, and does it with small spring flowers and good autumn colour.
Related Reading
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