Mitella, commonly known as miterworts or bishop's caps, is a small genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae (order Saxifragales). The genus is native to temperate and arctic regions of North America and Asia.
Plants grow from a scaly rhizome and produce wide, heart- or spade-shaped leaves clustered near the base. The small flowers have five petals and are arranged in a long raceme or spike. The common names "miterwort" and "bishop's cap" reflect the distinctive shape of the developing seed capsule, which resembles a bishop's mitre — the same image that inspired the Latin genus name.
Four species and a small number of natural hybrids are currently accepted. Notable members include Mitella diphylla (twoleaf miterwort), widespread in eastern North America, and Mitella nuda (naked miterwort), which ranges across boreal North America and northeastern Asia. Mitella prostrata (creeping bishop's cap) is treated as a synonym of Mitella nuda in current taxonomy.
Etymology
The genus name Mitella means "little mitre," derived from Latin mitra with the diminutive suffix -ella, because the small seed capsules were said to resemble a bishop's headdress. In Classical Latin, mitella could also mean "female headdress" or "sling," while the root mitra traces back to Greek mítrā, meaning "girdle," "headband," or "turban."
Distribution
Mitella species are native to temperate and arctic North America and Asia. The range spans boreal and eastern North American forests as well as parts of northeastern Asia, consistent with the disjunct distributions typical of many Saxifragaceae genera.
