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Hydrangea macrophylla
Also called French hydrangea, Lacecap hydrangea, Mophead hydrangea, Penny mac, Hortensia, Hydrangea, Chinese Sweetleaf
In Singapore: Hydrangea, Common Hydrangea, Snowball Flower, Florist's Hydrangea (Grown in Singapore)
A deciduous shrub from Japan, widely grown for its large pink or blue flower heads in summer. It is most often grown as a garden or container plant in temperate climates, and many mophead and lacecap cultivars exist.
Hydrangea macrophylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae, native and endemic to Japan. It is a deciduous shrub growing to 3 m (10 ft) tall by 2.5 m (8 ft) or more broad with large heads of pink or blue flowers in summer and autumn. It is currently treated as monotypic, with no subspecies or varieties. Common names include bigleaf hydrangea, and, for particular cultivar groups, the names lacecap hydrangea, mophead hydrangea, and hortensia. It is widely cultivated in many parts of the world in many climates. It is not to be confused with H. aspera 'Macrophylla'.
Phyllodulcin, hydrangenol, and their 8-O-glucosides, and thunberginols A and F can be found in H. macrophylla. Thunberginol B, the dihydroisocoumarins thunberginol C, D and E, the dihydroisocoumarin glycosides thunberginol G 3'-O-glucoside and (−)-hydrangenol 4'-O-glucoside and four kaempferol and quercetin oligoglycosides can be found in Hydrangeae Dulcis Folium, the processed leaves of H. macrophylla var. thunbergii. The leaves also contain the stilbenoid hydrangeic acid.
The various colours, such as red, mauve, purple, violet and blue, in H. macrophylla are developed from one simple anthocyanin, delphinidin 3-glucoside (myrtillin), which forms complexes with metal ions called metalloanthocyanins.
Hydrangea macrophylla is endemic to Japan, where it occurs in coastal habitats from Honshu southwards. Natural wild plants, formerly sometimes distinguished as H. macrophylla var. normalis E.H.Wilson, have "lacecap" structure flowerheads, with a few large sterile showy bract-like flowers that act as targets for pollinators, surrounding a central cluster of small fertile flowers. A closely related hydrangea from the mountains of the interior of Japan, Hydrangea serrata, was treated as a variety of H. macrophylla by some authors in the past, but is currently treated as a separate species.
Amacha is a Japanese beverage made from fermented leaves of Hydrangea macrophylla var. thunbergii.
Hydrangea febrifuga · Hydrangea · Climbing Hydrangea · Wild hydrangea · Rough Leaf Hydrangea · Hydrangea fauriei · Hydrangea glaucescens · Japanese Hydrangea Vine · Panicled hydrangea · Climbing Hydrangea · Oakleaf hydrangea · Mountain hydrangea
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hydrangea macrophylla by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
