Hydrangea anomala

Hydrangea anomala, the Japanese climbing-hydrangea, is a species of hydrangea native to the woodlands of the Himalaya, southern and central China and northern Myanmar.

Contents

• Hydrangea anomala subsp petiolaris japanese climbing hydrangea
• Hydrangea anomala subsp petiolaris climbing hydrangea
• Cultivation and uses
• References

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.