Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Netherlands

Common name: Vingerplant, Japanese fatsia, Glossy-leaved paper plant, ヤツデ yatsude

Family: Araliaceae (Ginseng family)

Distribution: Japan

Hardiness: Zone 08

Life form: Shrub

Comments: The finger plant was introduced in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century and back then it was exclusively a houseplant. Gradually, with the warming climate, it has shifted from a tub-plant to a perennial garden plant. It requires a protected location, but in the city climate of Leiden it does very well. So well in fact that it can be found here and there in the city escaping. In the garden, the plant grows into a sturdy shrub with an exotic appearance. The glossy, hand-shaped leaves of up to thirty centimetres in diameter are evergreen. The spherical heads that resemble ivy flowers in plumes of up to forty centimetres bloom until October/November, sometimes even until January, and then change into black berries. It does well in the shade, but blooms better in partial shade. As the name suggests, the plant is native to Japan, but also to Taiwan and South Korea. In the coastal forests there it grows to about four meters high, but with us a bit over two meters is the maximum.