Nancy-over-the Ground.Tiarella cordifolia.White Cool-wort (N. Y.)False Mitre-Wort.
Found on wooded slopes, in moist nooks during May.
The root throws out slender runners, which bear leaves, and flowers on upright, 4- to 8-inch long, hairy stems.
The leaf is heart-shaped at the base, its lobes overlapping the stem, and the margin is cut and toothed irregularly into a faint semblance of a maple-seedling leaf; the edge is slightly curling, the noticeable ribs are hairy underneath, and the fibre is coarse; the color is green, often speckled with rusty spots.
The 5 small, pointed petals spread alternately with the 5 blunt-tipped calyx-parts; the flower is all pure white, except for the orange tips to the 10 stamens; the long, sharp-pointed pistil is conspicuous. These pretty feathery flowers, on their little foot-stems, are arranged in a loose spike, borne by the long, sometimes leafy, flower-stem.
Nancy spreads rapidly, carpeting the earth with its close-growing flat leaves above which the flower-spires rise alertly. The foliage turns brown and gray early in the summer.