Eriocapitella Japonica

''Eriocapitella japonica'' is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. The specific epithet ''japonica'' means "from Japan", which is a misnomer since the species is introduced in Japan. It is native to China, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Description

''Eriocapitella japonica'' is a perennial herbaceous plant that stands high. Plant parts are soft and downy, with short hairs. The basal leaves are ternate, lobed, and toothed. The inflorescence is a cyme with flower stalks rising from a whorl of leaves wrapped around the top of the stem. Each flower is approximately across, with 1–3 whorls of sepals (but no petals) and yellow stamens. The sepals are rosy purple or carmine in color. The fruits are silky achenes.

Taxonomy

''Eriocapitella japonica'' was described by Takenoshin Nakai in 1941. Like other members of genus ''Eriocapitella'', ''E. japonica'' was formerly a member of genus '' Anemone''. The historically important synonym ''Anemone hupehensis'' var. ''japonica'' (Thunb.) Bowles & Stearn was described in 1947.

''E. japonica'' has the longest taxonomic history of any member of genus ''Eriocapitella''. The basionym ''Atragene japonica'' Thunb. was described by Carl Thunberg in 1784. Thunberg, one of the Apostles of Linnaeus, had collected dried specimens while working as a doctor for the Dutch East Indies Company.

''E. japonica'' was previously known as ''Anemone japonica'' (Thunb.) Siebold & Zucc. The latter had at least three named varieties: ''A. j.'' var. ''hupehensis'', ''A. j.'' var. ''hybrida'', and ''A. j.'' var. ''tomentosa'', now known as ''E. hupehensis'', ''E.'' × ''hybrida'', and ''E. tomentosa'', respectively. Along with ''E. vitifolia'', ''E. japonica'' is a parent of the hybrid ''E.'' × ''hybrida''.

Distribution

''Eriocapitella japonica'' is native to Central China, East China, South China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It has been cultivated and naturalized in the following Chinese provinces:

* East China: Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian
* South China: Guangdong
* Southwest China: Yunnan

''E. japonica'' was introduced to Japan and Korea. It has been naturalized in Japan for hundreds of years.

Ecology

''Eriocapitella japonica'' along with four other taxa ( ''E. hupehensis'', ''E.  vitifolia'', ''E. tomentosa'', and ''E.'' × ''hybrida'') are known as fall-blooming anemones. Like ''E. hupehensis'', ''E. japonica'' flowers from July to October in its native habitat.

Cultivation

Varieties of ''Eriocapitella japonica'' are cultivated worldwide, especially in China, Japan, and Korea, where naturalized populations are known to exist. Hundreds of years ago, a form of ''E. hupehensis'' with smaller, semi-double flowers and pink sepals escaped cultivation and spread across China to Japan and Korea. After finding this form in a Shanghai graveyard in 1843, the plant explorer Robert Fortune sent it home to England where it became known as ''E. japonica'', the Japanese anemone. European horticulturists crossed the Japanese anemone with ''E. vitifolia'' to produce cultivars of the artificial hybrid ''E.'' × ''hybrida''.

At the Chicago Botanic Garden, Rudy experimented with 26 cultivars of fall-blooming anemones over a 5-year period beginning in 1998. His experiments included 4 cultivars of ''E. japonica'', one of which (''E. japonica'' 'Prinz Heinrich') had the longest bloom length (65 days) of any cultivar.

, the following cultivars have gained the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) from the Royal Horticultural Society:

* ''E. japonica'' 'Pamina'
* ''E. japonica'' 'Rotkäppchen'

The cultivar ''E. japonica'' 'Prinz Heinrich' was removed from the AGM list in 2013.

Bibliography

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References

External links

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japonica
Flora of Asia
Plants described in 1941
Taxa named by Takenoshin Nakai

{{Ranunculales-stub