Jeffersonia diphylla (L.) Pers.
Twinleaf
Twinleaf is native to eastern North America and eastern Asia. The genus Jeffersonia is named for Thomas Jefferson by his friend, William Bartram, also a botanist. Twinleaf is rare now, considered threatened or endangered in Georgia, Iowa, New York, and New Jersey.
Plants: These slow-growing perennials reach about 8″ (20 cm) in size. Each leaf and flower occurs atop its own stem, and all the stems emerge from the base of the plant.
Leaves: Twinleaf is so named because each leaf consists of two halves that are mirror images of each other, looking a bit like the wings of a green moth. Leaves are smooth-edged and two-lobed, and fairly unique in shape.
Flowers: White, with eight petals, 1–1½″ (2.5–3.8 cm) in diameter.
Fruits: About 1¼″ (3.2 cm) high and 1″ (2.5 cm) in diameter, are thimble-shaped, with a cap that makes them resemble a bell pepper.
Habitats: Limestone soils in rich damp woods.
Britton, Nathaniel Lord, and Brown, Addison, An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions, 1913. Courtesy of the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database. 
Online References:
Wikipedia (Jeffersonia)
5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 13 cm) 
9/14/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 15 × 10″ (39 × 26 cm) 
9/14/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 14 × 9″ (35 × 23 cm) 
5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 4 × 6½′ (1.3 × 2.0 m) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Magnoliidae | Includes magnolias, nutmeg, bay laurel, cinnamon, avocado, black pepper, and many others |
| Order | Ranunculales | Basal (evolved earlier) eudicots, also called “true dicots” |
| Family | Berberidaceae | Barberry family |
| Genus | Jeffersonia | Named for Thomas Jefferson |
| Species | diphylla | Greek for “two-leaved” |
Jeffersonia diphylla description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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