Was looking for info about Hepaticas and saw this thread as well. You can start a single plant just from the stem with the leaf?
https://www.nargsnw.org/hepatica-study-group?lightbox=dataItem-itceq3qh
https://www.nargsnw.org/hepatica-study-group
The pictures on the NWNARGS page are my photos; while you could potentially root from the leaf, this method hasn’t been established as a reliable means of Hepatica propagation.
I first read about Hepatica propagation from leaf cuttings in the annual journal of the International Hepatica Society several years ago. The reason for the discussion was not to propose leaf cutting as a viable propagation method, but instead to evaluate its potential in emergencies: for example, if while repotting you accidentally broke a leaf off of a very expensive and rare plant that only had a few leaves to begin with. There was no real conclusion as to the method’s usefulness, and not a lot of people are willing to experiment too extensively as you have to use fresh leaves to do it. I have tried leaf cutting propagation on H. japonica, H. nobilis, and H. acutiloba, and the first two had some root growth on a few examples, but none of H. acutiloba had any growth. However, I just tried casually and I haven’t pursued it any further.
