Hydrangea anomala

Hydrangea anomala
Hydrangea anomala
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Cornales
Family: Hydrangeaceae
Genus: Hydrangea
Species:
H. anomala
Binomial name
Hydrangea anomala
Synonyms[1]
List
    • Hydrangea altissima Wall.
    • Hydrangea glabra Hayata
    • Hydrangea glaucophylla C.C. Yang

Hydrangea anomala, the Japanese climbing-hydrangea,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae native to the woodlands of the Himalaya, southern and central China and northern Myanmar.

It is a woody climbing plant, growing to 12 m height up trees or rock faces, climbing by means of small aerial roots on the stems. The leaves are deciduous, ovate, 7–13 cm long and 4–10 cm broad, with a heart-shaped base, coarsely serrated margin and acute apex. The flowers are produced in flat corymbs 5–15 cm diameter in mid-summer; each corymb includes a small number of peripheral sterile white flowers 2–3.5 cm across, and numerous small, creamy-white fertile flowers 1–2 mm diameter. The fruit is a dry urn-shaped capsule 3–5 mm diameter containing several small winged seeds.

The closely related Hydrangea petiolaris from eastern Siberia, Japan, and Korea, is sometimes treated as a subspecies of H. anomala; it differs in growing larger (to 20 m) and flower corymbs up to 25 cm diameter. The common name Climbing hydrangea is applied to both species.

Cultivation and uses

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Hydrangea anomala flowers.

Hydrangea anomala is grown as an ornamental plant. The subspecies H. anomala subsp. petiolaris has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[3]

Etymology

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‘Hydrangea’ is derived from Greek and means ‘water vessel’, which is in reference to the shape of its seed capsules.[4]

‘Anomala’ means ‘anomalous’ or ‘unlike its fellows’.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  2. ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. ^ "Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris". RHS. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521866453 (hardback), ISBN 9780521685535 (paperback). pp 50, 206
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