Darmera

Darmera peltata
Darmera peltata flowers
Darmera peltata (Indian rhubarb) growing along a creek in El Dorado National Forest, El Dorado County, California
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Saxifragaceae
Genus: Darmera
Voss
Species: D. peltata
Binomial name
Darmera peltata
(Torr. ex Benth.) Voss
Synonyms

Peltiphyllum peltatum
Saxifraga peltata Torr. ex Benth.

Darmera peltata (Indian rhubarb or umbrella plant) is a flowering plant, the only species within the genus Darmera in the family Saxifragaceae.[1] It is a slowly spreading rhizomatous perennial native to mountain streamsides in woodland in the western United States (southwestern Oregon to northwestern California), growing to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall by 1 m (3 ft 3 in) wide. The name Darmera comes after Karl Darmer, a Berlin horticulturist from 19th century.[2]

In late spring the flowers emerge before the leaves, with rounded cymes of numerous five-petalled white to bright pink flowers (measuring up to 1.5cm across each) borne on flower stems up to 2m long. The leaves are peltate, rounded, deeply lobed, coarsely toothed, conspicuously veined and dark green, also on stems up to 2m in height. The leaves turn red in autumn.

In gardens, Darmera peltata flourishes in pond margins and bog gardens, where it forms an imposing umbrella-like clump. It is suited to smaller gardens where there is no room for Gunnera manicata or Gunnera tinctoria, unrelated plants that are somewhat similar in appearance, but much larger.

D. peltata has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p 90
  2. ↑ http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=v510
  3. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector Darmera peltata AGM / RHS Gardening". Apps.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
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