Ligularia 'Cheju Charmer'

Interesting Facts

Description

Family Compositae

The largest family of flowering plants , the Compositae (Asteraceae), comprising about 1,100 genera and more than 20,000 species and characterized by many small flowers arranged in a head looking like a single flower and subtended by an involucre of bracts. A head may consist of both ray flowers and disk flowers, as in the sunflower, of disk flowers only, as in the burdock, or of ray flowers only, as in the dandelion.

Tribe Senecioneae

The Senecioneae are a tribe of closely related genera that can be recognized most readily by the nature of the pappus and the involucral bracts or phyllaries. The phyllaries are basically in one well developed, often partially or wholly connate series of equal length that closely envelope the head . Frequently there are a few, very much smaller and mostly randomly distributed, often necrotic-tipped bracts near the base of the main series. The pappus is of fine, soft, often pure white capillary hairs . Heads may be either discoid or radiate . -- Gerald Carr.

Genus Ligularia

Perennials , 15-150+ cm (glabrous or scattered-hairy, especially distally [arachno-tomentose]; roots fibrous ). Stems usually 1, erect . Leaves basal and cauline; alternate; petiolate (petiole bases dilated , ± sheathing stems) ; blades (basal and proximal largest, cauline smaller distally) palmately [palmati-pinnately] nerved, orbiculate to reniform [elliptic , lanceolate, oblanceolate , ovate ], margins dentate [denticulate , serrate, dissected ], faces glabrous or sparsely pilosulous (mostly on nerves ) [glaucous; arachno-tomentose]. Heads radiate [discoid ], in corymbiform [racemiform or spiciform ] arrays. Calyculi 0 [1-2+ bractlets ]. Involucres cylindric to campanulate , [3-]16-28 mm diam. Phyllaries persistent , [5-]8-13+ in 1-2 series, erect, distinct (margins interlocking) [connate at bases], mostly oblong or lanceolate to linear , subequal , margins usually ± scarious (tips greenish or reddish, not blackened). Receptacles flat to convex , smooth , epaleate. Ray florets [0 or 1-7] 8-14+, pistillate , fertile ; corollas (laminae prominent , showy) orange to orange-yellow or brick-red [yellow]. Disc florets [5-]12-100+, bisexual , fertile; corollas orange-yellow to orange, becoming brownish [yellow], tubes longer than cylindric throats, lobes 5, recurved, lance-linear ; style branches: stigmatic areas continuous, apices truncate or rounded-truncate. Cypselae (stramineous to brownish) ± ellipsoid [cylindric or fusiform ], 5[-10]-ribbed or -nerved, glabrous; pappi persistent (fragile), of 40-100+, reddish [sordid , brownish, purplish], barbellate to barbellulate bristles ([shorter than] longer than cypselae). x = 30.

Species 125+: introduced ; temperate Eurasia .[1]

Physical Description

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 20" tall.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 18-24" apart.

Soil: Prefers light, rich, moist organic soil.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Part shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Euphyllophytina ()
        Class: Magnoliopsida () - Brongniart, 1843 - Dicotyledons
        Subclass: Asteridae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Campanulanae () - Takhtajan Ex Reveal, 1992
        Order: Asterales () - Lindley, 1833
        Family: Compositae () - Giseke, 1792, nom. cons., nom. alt.
        Subfamily: Asteroideae ()
        Tribe: Senecioneae ()
        Subtribe: Tussilagininae ()
        Genus: Ligularia () - Cassini, 1816, nom. cons. - Ligularia [Latin, ligula, little tongue, and -aria, pertaining to or possession of; alluding to corollas of radiate heads]
        Cultivar: Cheju Charmer
        Botanical name: - Ligularia 'Cheju Charmer'