Tolmeia menziesii Tuffs Gold (Piggyback Plant)

Piggyback Plant (Tolmiea menziesii). Also called Youth-on-Age or Mother of Thousands. Is a distinctive Pacific Northwest native shade perennial from Alaska through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and into northern California.

The signature trait: new plantlets sprout from the base of each mature leaf at the junction with the leaf stem. As the leaf ages and weeps toward the ground, the young plantlet takes root wherever it touches moist soil. Giving the plant its 'piggyback' name. Soft hairy heart-shaped leaves form a mounded clump. Small inconspicuous green-brown flowers on tall wiry stems in late spring to early summer (not a showy bloom. Grown for foliage and plantlet habit).

Food plant recorded for the Makah people.

Coastal. Native to Oregon coastal forest seeps and streamsides.

Deer-resistant.

The 'Taff's Gold' cultivar is a variegated chartreuse-gold-speckled form that brightens a shade corner. Pairs beautifully with Sword Fern, Fringecups, Pacific Bleeding Heart, and Western Wild Ginger.