Richardson’s Alumroot

Heuchera richardsonii

Pollinator Value

🐝 Specialist Bee Host: Colletes aestivalis (Colletidae)
S17 specialist on Heuchera; S68 9 visitations recorded
❄️ Winter Food Source: Ruffed Grouse (Phasianidae) consume Heuchera as approximately 2% of diet by weight or volume. Spruce Grouse also utilize the plant, occurring in 0.5% of diet samples. Both species are year-round residents in the northern forests, suggesting foliage or seeds may serve as a minor winter food resource.
S57 2 studies for Ruffed Grouse, 1 study for Spruce Grouse

Proximity Score: 2
Native Status: ❌ Outaouais ❌ Ottawa ❌ QC ✅ ON
Closest Direction: NW
CEC Eco-Regions: 5 – Northern Forests, 5.2 – Mixed Wood Shield, 5.2.2 – Northern Minnesota Wetlands
Rarity Notes: Globally secure (G5) and nationally secure in Canada (N5). Not listed under SARA. In Ontario ranked S4 (Apparently Secure), reflecting its restriction to prairie and savanna remnants in the southern and western portions of the province. NatureServe lists the species as native to ON, AB, BC, CO, IA, KS, MB, MT, SK, and WY. Not native to Quebec.
S22 G5, N5, S4 ON; S26 not SARA listed; S1 distribution
Rarity Ranks: ON S4 – Apparently Secure
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: A prairie and open woodland species of the interior grassland-forest transition. Found in dry prairies, sandy river banks, rocky ground, and oak savannas, typically on well-drained sandy or gravelly substrates. In Ontario, the species reaches its northeastern range limit, with 653 preserved specimens concentrated in ecoregions 8.1.5 and 8.2.1 of the Mixedwood Plains. Associated with tallgrass prairie remnants featuring Andropogon gerardii, Silphium terebinthinaceum, and Liatris aspera.
S7 dry prairies, sandy river banks, rocky ground, oak savanna; S4 dry rocky woods, prairies, hillsides, clearings; S48 653 ON specimens

Roles: Pollinator Attractor
S73/S29/S72 Evidence: Pollinator Attractor: S73 [MEDIUM]: S68 9 bee associations (threshold=3)]

Category: Antidiarrheal, Eye Medicine, Dermatological Aid
S28 Drug categories from Moerman
Notes: Widely used in Indigenous medicine across the northern Great Plains. Blackfoot, Woodland Cree, and Lakota peoples all employed rootstocks and roots as antidiarrheal agents — chewed directly or as decoctions. Woodland Cree also prepared root infusions as an eye wash for sore eyes. Lakota applied poultices of powdered roots to sores as a dermatological aid. All recorded uses center on the root and rootstock, consistent with the astringent tannin chemistry typical of the genus Heuchera (alumroot).
S28 Moerman: 5 drug uses across Blackfoot, Woodland Cree, and Lakota

❌ Not Edible