The fringecup (Tellima grandiflora) is characterized by its long, lolling stalks of distinctively lashed blooms. Each individual bud features a fused calyx1A calyx is the outer structure that encloses or forms the base of a flower. It is composed of the sepals, which are modified leaves that enclose a flower bud before it opens. of five green sepals2Sepals are modified leaves that enclose a flower bud before it opens. that forms its common name’s “cup” when its pleated tip opens. Five thin and finely divided petals then emerge and reflex over the calyx, forming the “fringe.” The petals begin white or green, but often mature to a deep rose, probably as a result of pollination, as do many flowers. 
Up to around twenty such blooms dangle from a single raceme, or unbranched floral stalk, all loosely facing the direction of the plant’s light source. Reaching approximately three feet/one meter in height, the stalks often gently curve along their length and nod demurely at the tip, almost as if burdened by the weight of their blossoms. Even after the fringed petals have withered, the cups persist, cradling the seeds of the next generation until they spill out into their woodland world, as in the accompanying photo.
Growing from thick, creeping rhizomes3Rhizomes are thickened stems that grow along or under the soil surface and bear shoots above and roots below., the fringecup is a perennial that can fill empty spaces as a ground cover or merely meander through a mixed woodland border. An individual plant consists of a basal clump of long-stemmed, palmate leaves, divided into several shallow lobes. The petioles, or, leaf stems, shorten at each tier along the flower stalk, becoming clasping with no stem at all, as in the accompanying photo. (The leaf appears to have been patterned by what was likely some species of leaf miner larva.) In milder climates, the leaves persist through winter, but may become veined or blushed with a dusky plum purple. Downy hairs fringe the stalks, petioles, and leaf margins, sometimes almost giving the appearance of prickles, but are harmless.
The fringecup abounds in moist, low to mid-elevation mixed woodland throughout the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains from Alaska to northern California. It is less common where it extends east into the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Idaho, and Montana. Look for it in bloom from mid-spring to mid-summer, depending on elevation. In Western Washington, the fringecup is often found in the company of the distantly related and equally bizarre youth-on-age, or, piggyback plant (Tolmiea menziesii), as well as the largeleaf avens (Geum macrophyllum).
Typical fringecup habitat in Western Washington:
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