Key to Japanese anemones in the RHS trial
| 1a | Leaves undivided | vitifolia | |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | Leaves with 3 leaflets | 2 | |
| 2a | Leaflets with shallow indentations | matsudae | |
| b | Leaflets deeply indented | 3 | |
| 3a | Leaflets with a frilled edge | x hybrida 'Lady Gilmour' | |
| b | Leaflets without a frilled edge | 4 | |
| 4a | Underside of leaves grey | 5 | |
| b | Underside of leaves green | 6 | |
| 5a | Underside of leaves covered with white hair | tomentosa | |
| b | Underside with hairs on the veins only | tomentosa 'Robustissima' | |
| 6a | Flowers with 5-6 tepals | 7 | |
| b | Flowers with more than 6 tepals | 15 | |
| 7a | Flowers white | hupehensis f. alba | |
| b | Flowers pink | 8 | |
| 8a | Flowers pale pink | 9 | |
| b | Flowers dark pink | 11 | |
| 9a | Tepals irregular in shape | x hybrida 'Richard Ahrens' | |
| b | Tepals more or less regular in shape | 10 | |
| 10a | Tepals all the same colour | hupehensis | Note 1 |
| b | Flower with 2 tepals darker in colour | x hybrida 'September Charm' | |
| 11a | Plant flowering 2 weeks earlier than other cultivars | hupehensis 'Praecox' | |
| b | Plant not early flowering | 12 | |
| 12a | Tepals all much the same colour | 13 | |
| b | Flower with 2 tepals darker in colour | 14 | |
| 13a | Tepals as broad as long | hupehensis 'Superba' | |
| b | Tepals longer than broad | hupehensis 'Splendens' | |
| 14a | Tepals rounded | 'Hadspen Abundance' | |
| b | Tepals irregular in shape | 'Bowles' Pink' | |
| 15a | Flowers with 8-16 tepals | 16 | |
| b | Flowers with more than 16 tepals | 21 | |
| 16a | Flowers white | x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' | Note 3 |
| b | Flowers pink | 17 | |
| 17a | Flowers pale pink | 18 | |
| b | Flowers dark pink | hupehensis var. japonica 'Prinz Heinrich' | Note 2 |
| 18a | Tepals curled and crimped at edges | 19 | |
| b | Tepals not curled and crimped | 20 | |
| 19a | Flowers about 8cm in diameter | x hybrida 'Königin Charlotte' | |
| b | Flowers about 6cm in diameter | x hybrida 'Loreley' | |
| 20a | Flower tepals uniform in colour | x hybrida 'Elegans' | |
| b | Flowers with some darker tepals | x hybrida 'Rosenschale' | |
| 21a | Flowers with 17-25 tepals | 22 | |
| b | Flowers with more than 25 tepals | x hybrida 'Margarete'/'Mont Rose' | |
| 22a | Flowers white | 23 | |
| b | Flowers dark pink | 24 | |
| 23a | Tepals narrow | x hybrida 'Whirlwind' | Note 4 |
| b | Tepals broad | x hybrida 'Géante des Blanches' | |
| 24a | Tepals narrow forming a neat rosette | hupehensis var. japonica 'Pamina' | |
| b | Tepals narrow but twisted and deformed | hupehensis var. japonica |
Note 1: Flowers keying out as A. hupehensis may be of 2 different shades of pink:
2. medium pink A. hupehensis var. hupehensis forma hupehensis.
Sometimes the cultivars derived from A. hupehensis can show a variable amount of colour in the tepals, so taxa keying out at numbers 10 and 12 should be referred to the descriptions.
Note 2: Flowers which have more tepals than 'Prinz Heinrich' and smaller flowers than A. hupehensis var. japonica may be 'Rotcapchen'.
Note 3: Flowers keying out as 'Honorine Jobert; but with a larger flower could be 'Andrea Atkinson'.
Note 4: The name of cultivar 'Louise Uhink' may be seen in gardens. Plants with large white double flowers may be this cultivar but its true identity is uncertain.
The genus Anemone has only one ring of floral leaves outside the stamens, and these are called tepals since it is not easy to decide whether they are the petals or sepals which make up the two rings of structures in most flowers.
Descriptions of Japanese anemones in RHS trial
Flower colour is identified from the RHS Colour Chart, but varies considerably as the flower ages, and on different soil types. An indication of the colour is given in words.
A. vitifolia Vine-leaved anemone
Leaves heart-shaped on long petioles, with 5 indentations.
Tepals 5 or 6, 28-34-42mm × 17-22-28mm.
Colour white, outside of tepals flushed pink and green.
Found in the temperate Himalayas from Afghanistan to Yunnan, but may be doubtfully hardy in some areas of this country.
Some basal leaves heart-shaped and 5-lobed, but most with 3 leaflets and shallow indentations.
Tepals 5 or 6, 32-37-43mm × 20-28-37mm, rounded and overlapping.
Colour white, outside tepals flushed pink.
Native to China. Collected from Mount Omei.
Leaves large, with 3 leaflets, deeply toothed, and lower surface thickly covered with silky, white hairs.
Tepals 5, 20-27-32mm × 14-18-26mm, even in size. Early flowering.
Colour 75D (pale purplish violet).
Found on the mountains of western China from Tibet to Kansu.
Leaves large, with 3 leaflets; lower surface grey crystalline, with long hairs, mostly on the veins but less than the species. Flowering stem reddish-purple.
Tepals 5, 33-35-38mm × 18-24-29mm.
Colour 75B, C & D (medium to pale purplish violet).
A seedling, raised in 1900 by Lemoine, parentage unknown.
Leaves with 3 leaflets, lowers surface green, hairs only on the veins.
Tepals 5, rounded and overlapping, 3
Purplish pink to white includes 2 forma.
Found widespread in central and western China. Collected by Sylvestri 1904-1907, introduced by Lemoine 1908.
A. hupehensis var. hupehensis forma hupehensis
Tepals 5, 23-30-36mm × 19-23-27mm
Colour 70B (medium purple).
A. hupehensis var. hupehensis forma alba
Tepals 5, 24-27-31mm × 16-20-24mm.
Colour white, outside of tepals flushed purple.
Collected from Yunnan.
Leaves with 3 leaflets, lowers surface green, hairs only on the veins (as A. hupehensis var. hupehensis).
Tepals 17-20-24, 20-36-46mm × 6-14-21mm, narrow and rolled under at the edges, often twisted and distorted. Several of the outer petals are green, giving the appearance of the missing calyx.
Colour 70B (medium purple).
Originally seen in Japan in 1695 but later found, probably as a garden escape, throughout China. Introduced by Fortune in 1843.
Cultivars of A. hupehensis with a high count of fertile pollen
Fertile pollen stains with aceto-carmine, infertile pollen is colourless and deformed in shape.)
Tepals 5, 19-27-38mm × 12-18-28mm, rounded at the tip but narrowed at the base with 2 smaller tepals darker in colour.
Colour 70 A to C (pale to medium purple)
Introduced by Eric Smith.
Tepals 5, 25-31-35mm × 13-20-28mm, narrow at base and crimped at the tip, slightly twisted and deformed.
Colour 70A to 71A (medium to deep violet purple).
A selection by E A Bowles.
Tepals 5, 20-30-34mm × 17-20-21mm, with 2 smaller tepals.
Colour paler than 72B (pale violet purple).
Introduced by Ahrends 1928.
Tepals 5, 24-31-35mm × 25-27-31mm, rounded, regular and overlapping at the base with 2 smaller tepals.
Colour 70B. (medium purple).
Introduced by Lindner in 1931, a supposed hybrid between A. hupehensis and 'Königin Charlotte'.
Tepals 5, 21-26-31mm × 16-22-30mm, rounded and overlapping.
Flowering at about the same time as A. tomentosa; the earliest of the A. hupehensis types.
Colour 70A to C (deep to medium violet purple).
Introduced by Ahrends 1936.
Cultivars of A. hupehensis var. japonica with a high count of fertile pollen
'Prinz Heinrich' syn. 'Prince Henry' AGM 1993
Tepals 14-16-19, 13-32-48mm × 7-14-21mm, narrow and quilled, notched at the tip and often deformed.
Colour 70B (medium purple).
Introduced by Pfitzer 1902.
Tepals 24-25-26, 20-25-43mm × 5-12-18mm, very similar to 'Prinz Heinrich' but with more tepals and a smaller flower.
Colour 70A (medium violet purple)
Tepals 23-27-30, 15-26-32mm × 3-10-18mm, flattened and less distorted, forming a tight rosette.
Colour 70C (medium purple)
Cultivars of Anemone x hybrida
Leaves with 3 leaflets, green on the lower side, hairs only on the veins.
Tepals 7-9-11, 25-35-42mm × 10-23-30mm, variable in size and shape with an occasional small, deformed tepal in the centre.
Colour 75A & B (medium purplish violet).
Leaves large and formed of 3 leaflets with short petioles, fringed along the edge like curled parsley.
Tepals 7-10-12, 15-46-55mm × 5-25-37mm, the variability in size and distortion of the tepals produces rather untidy flowers.
Colour 65B & C (pale purple).
This plant, discovered in a garden in Devonshire, appears to be identical with that described by the Rev. Wolley Dod in 1895 and believed lost. The name 'Lady Gilmour' is quoted in 1906.
It is an unstable form and may produce leaves which are not fringed and identical with those of the cultivar 'Elegans'. Of the two stocks in the Trials, one with the best leaves produced the most untidy flowers and the one with the best flowers produced the most unstable fringing to the leaves.
Tepals 5, 20-35-42mm × 20-26-31mm, often irregularly shades with 2 tepals darker. The small number of tepals, and the regular, rounded shape suggests that this cultivar belongs in the 'hupehensis' group, but as it has a very low count of fertile pollen, it seems to fit best here, but with parentage unknown and showing more of the 'hupehensis' characters than other hybrids.
Colour 70D (pale violet purple).
Introduced by Bristol Nurseries, USA, 1932.
Petioles of the 2 basal leaflets are short, causing the edges of the leaflets to overlap.
Tepals 5-6, 28-33-50mm × 10-28-37mm, irregular in shape, broad at the tip and overlapping; very uniform in colour.
Colour 75D (pale violet purple).
Introduced by Pfitzer in 1921.
Leaf with 3 leaflets with short petioles and leaflet edges overlapping.
Tepals 7-8-9, 33-43-50mm × 10-24-30mm, irregular in size and shape, broad at the tip and narrow at the base; also irregularly coloured.
Colour 70D to 73D (pale violet purple).
Introduced by Haagemann in 1978.
'Königin Charlotte' syn. 'Queen Charlotte' AGM 1993
Leaf of 3 leaflets with short petioles causing leaflet edges to overlap.
Tepals 9-13-21, 25-40-55mm × 5-24-37mm, curled inwards at the edges, and notched at the tips.
Colour 69B (pale violet purple).
Introduced by Lemoine in 1906.
Tepals 22-30-37, 20-38-55mm × 6-14-27mm, with numerous narrow, often distorted tepals with notched tips. Produces secondary flowers on short stems immediately below the main flowers.
Colour 69A (pale purple)
Stocks which were indistinguishable were received under both cultivar names and further work is required to establish which is the valid name.
This plant is still available in the trade under the name 'Lady Gilmour', from whose garden the original stock was obtained and causing confusion with the true 'Lady Gilmour'.
Vegetative characters indistinguishable from those of A. x hybrida 'Elegans' and believed to be a sport from the latter, arising in the garden of M. Jobert at Verdun in 1858.
Tepals 7-9-10, 31-35-40mm × 18-24-29mm.
Colour white, outside of tepals flushed pink.
Leaf with 3 leaflets, the short petioles allowing the leaf edges to overlap.
Tepals 13-18-24, 19-34-47mm × 5-22-33mm.
Colour white, outside of tepals flushed green.
Very similar to 'Königin Charlotte' in all but flower colour.
Introduced by Lemoine in 1906.
Tepals 21-23-27, 15-31-42 × 3-14-23mm, narrow and flattened with inner ones distorted.
Colour white, outside of tepals flushed green. Some outer tepals wholly green.
Secondary flowers produced on short stalks immediately under the primary flower.
Introduced by James Vick of Rochester, New York, in 1887.
The following entries in the trial were not distinguishable from cultivars described above
'Luise Uhink' see 'Honorine Jobert'
'Albert Schweitzer' see A. x hybrida 'Elegans'
'Max Vogel' see A. x hybrida 'Elegans'
'Bodnant Burgundy' see A. hupehensis var. japonica. The true 'Bodnant Burgundy' is under investigation
'Bressingham Glow' see 'Prinz Heinrich'
'Terry's Pink' see 'Margarete'/'Montrose'
Plants insufficiently mature to be judged
These were plants received and planted in 1996.
'Loreley' All AGM pre 1994 were rescinded.
Leaf of 3 leaflets with short petioles causing leaflet edges to overlap.
Tepals 11-16-21, 13-36-53 × 2-21-36mm, similar in appearance to 'Königin Charlotte' but flowers but paler in colour.
Colour 75C & D (pale purplish violet).
Introduced by Lemoine in 1906.
'Andrea Atkinson'
Tepals 8-9-10, 32-37-46 × 12-24-27mm.
Colour white.
Very similar to 'Honorine Jobert' with a slightly larger flower.
'Elegantissima'
Single pink flowers and leaflets with bases overlapping.
'Simplicity'
Single white flower'.
'Josephine'
No flowers seen.
Specimens, descriptions and photographs of plants in the Trial, and other Japanese anemones, are held in the Herbarium of the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley Garden.
Key and descriptions prepared by:
Miss Margaret McKendrick, National Collection Holder for Japanese Anemones
Mrs Diana Miller, Keeper of the RHS Herbarium
Mrs Linda Jones, RHS Trials Officer
5 October 1998