Plant of the Week
Botanical Wonder
Latin: x Fatshedera lizei
Through the ages, nature has produced an array of plants and
animals that are each unique.
Man, with his penchance for order has classified the natural
world into a taxonomic arrangement which helps discern relationships and place
each species in its own unique cubby hole. But as soon as you develop a really
nifty system, something always comes along that doesn ’t quite fit.
From the plant world one of these oddballs is x Fatshedera lizei,
the Botanical Wonder.
Fatshedera is a hybrid of two members of the aralia family,
Fatsia japonica ‘Moseri’ and Hedera helix ‘Hibernica’ (English Ivy). Fatsia is a
10-foot tall, erect-stemmed evergreen shrub with lobed, leathery leaves the size
of a large dinner plate. Fatshedera, the freak of nature that it is, has
characteristics between those of Fatsia and the vining English ivy.
Botanical Wonder can’t make up its mind if it wants to stand
upright like its momma or vine like it’ s daddy. So, being undecided, it kind
of sprawls. Plants will grow 3 to 4 feet tall and then fall over with new erect
stems again arising from the base.
The leaves of Fatshedera are star shaped and 5 to 6 inches
across with long petioles. They have the typical leathery texture of both
parents and are evergreen, at least where the plant is hardy, which is mostly in
the southern third of Arkansas.
Greenish flowers appear on older plants in the fall in golf
ball-sized balls similar to those seen on adult English ivy vines. However,
being a bigeneric hybrid, the plant is sterile and produces no seeds.
The binomial (two-name) classification system we use today was
developed by the Swedish botanist Carlos Linnaeus (1707-1778). Linnaeus tried to
classify all plants according to their sexual parts, a system that never really
worked, but his binomial technique became the framework we use for classifying
all things in the natural world.
The binomial system works the way Chinese personal names are
given; the surname is given first with the given name second. Using this system,
Hedera helix can easily be differentiated between all other species of Hedera.
Genera are grouped according to similarities into plant
families. The more distant the relationship between plants, the less likely they
are to be sexually compatible. Hybrids between genera within families are rare
but do occur. The "x" is used to indicate a plant is of hybrid origin.
Botanical wonder was discovered as a chance seedling by a
nurseryman in 1910 in Nantes, France. Several variegated cultivars of the plant
are available.
Fatshedera is primarily recommended as a houseplant, but as such
you must develop an appreciation for slouchiness. Ruthless cutting back will
give it a better form and do wonders at relieving stress. Inside, it is easy to
grow in a cool, bright window.
In the garden, Fatshedera is worth having just for its unique botanical
background. Even in Zone 8, it tends to freeze back occasionally, so giving the
plant a south or west facing position next to the house will help assure its
survival. In colder areas, it can be grown but will freeze to the ground each
winter. The sprawling stems, when given a little assistance by means of a few
wire supports, can be trained to "climb" a fireplace. The variegated selections
are less hardy than the green form.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
March 15, 2002
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