Hydrangea paniculata

Hydrangea paniculata, or panicled hydrangea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae native to southern and eastern China, Korea, Japan and Russia (Sakhalin).^[2][3] It was first formally described by Philipp Franz von Siebold in 1829.^[4]

Hydrangea paniculata
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Cornales
Family:	Hydrangeaceae
Genus:	Hydrangea
Species:	H. paniculata
Binomial name
Hydrangea paniculata Siebold

Description

It is a deciduous shrub or small tree, 1–5 m (3.3–16.4 ft) tall by 2.5 m (8 ft) broad, growing in sparse forests or thickets in valleys or on mountain slopes.^[2]

The leaves are broadly oval, toothed and 7–15 cm (3–6 in) long. In late summer it bears large conical panicles of creamy white fertile flowers, together with pinkish-white sterile florets. Florets may open pale green, grading to white with age, thus creating a pleasing "two-tone" effect.^[5]

Cultivation

H. paniculata 'Grandiflora'

In cultivation it is pruned in spring to obtain larger flower heads.^[6]

Numerous cultivars have been developed for ornamental use, of which the following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:^[7]

• 'Big Ben'^[8]
• 'Limelight' ^(PBR)[9]
• 'Phantom'^[10]
• Pink Diamond = 'Interhydia'^[11]
• Pinky-Winky = 'Dvppinky' ^(PBR)[12]
• 'Silver Dollar'^[13]

Those cultivars marked ^(PBR) are protected by plant breeders' rights from unauthorised propagation.

Other cultivars include:

• 'Praecox',^[14] a particularly early flowering cultivar

Uses

Hydrangea paniculata is sometimes smoked as an intoxicant, despite the danger of illness and/or death due to the cyanide^{[15][unreliable source?]} present as cyanogenic glycosides.^[16]

Etymology

Hydrangea is derived from Greek, meaning 'water vessel', in reference to the shape of the capsules.^[17]

Paniculata means 'with branched-racemose or cymose inflorescences', 'tufted', 'paniculate', or 'with panicles'. This name is about the flowers of this species.^[17]