Description
Hydrangea macrophylla was cultivated and selected for a long time in Japan and China. It was introduced in Europe in 1789-90.
It is a deciduous shrub, with a dense foliage forming a large ball reaching a height of about 1 to 2 m. The opposite leaves can grow to fifteen centimeters in length. They are simple, membranous, orbicular to elliptic and acuminate. They are generally serrate.
The inflorescence of Hydrangea macrophylla is a corymb, with all flowers places in a plane or a hemisphere or even a whole sphere in cultivated forms.
Two distinct types of flowers can be identified: central non-ornamental fertile flowers and peripheral ornamental flowers, usually described as "sterile".
A study of several cultivars showed that all the flowers were fertile but the non-ornamental flowers were pentamers while the decorative flowers were tetramers.
The four sepals of decorative flowers have colors ranging from pale pink, red fuchsia purple to blue. The non-decorative flowers have five small greenish sepals and five small petals. Flowering lasts from early summer to early winter. The fruit is a subglobose capsule.
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