Darmera

Darmera peltata
	Flowers
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Saxifragales
Family:	Saxifragaceae
Genus:	Darmera; Voss (1899)
Species:	D. peltata
Binomial name
	Darmera peltata; (Torr. ex Benth.) Voss (1899)
Synonyms
	Leptarrhena inundata Behr ex Kellogg (1855); Peltiphyllum peltatum (Torr. ex Benth.) Engl. (1891); Saxifraga peltata Torr. ex Benth. (1849) (basionym);

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

In late spring the flowers emerge before the leaves, with rounded cymes of numerous five-petalled white to bright pink flowers (measuring up to 1.5 cm 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, distantly related plants that are somewhat similar in appearance, but much larger.

Darmera peltata has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.^[4]^[5]

McCloud River
El Dorado National Forest, California

References

^ Darmera peltata (Torr. ex Benth.) Voss. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
^ Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p 90
^ "Darmera peltata - Plant Finder".
^ "RHS Plant Selector Darmera peltata AGM / RHS Gardening". Apps.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
^ "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 29. Retrieved 6 February 2018.

Brickell, Christopher, 1996, The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants London: RHS/Dorling Kindersley ISBN 0-7513-0436-0

External links

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[powo-1] Darmera peltata (Torr. ex Benth.) Voss. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 13 April 2024.

[SNW-2] Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p 90

[3] "Darmera peltata - Plant Finder".

[4] "RHS Plant Selector Darmera peltata AGM / RHS Gardening". Apps.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-17.

[5] "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 29. Retrieved 6 February 2018.

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