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Epimedium |
| Epimedium,
with the Danish name 'Bispehue', belongs to Berberidaceae, where you among
other genus find Podophyllum, Mahonia, Jeffersonia, Vancouveria and Ranzania. Epimedium is a very fine garden plant to the shade and woodland. It is very popular among gardeners, which can't surprise, because of the many exiting species and sorts. Addition to that Epimedium is very easy to grow and is very good to use for covering the ground. |
There are 54 species, all growing at the northern hemisphere, and the
numbers still goes up, because of the new plants that becomes found.
Addition there are a lot of sorts. 29 of the 54 species, that at the time exist, comes from China, but Epimedium also grows in Europe, N.Africa, Caucasus, the western Himalaya, Manchuria, Russian, Korea and Japan. |
The root is a rhizome, which lay just under the surface. The leaves are
often shiny and has a fresh green to reddish or red-brown colour. By some of
the species the leaf margins are filled with prickle ant the leaf feels
pricking and stiffly to touch. Some species are evergreen. The flowers are by the most species small and hangs over the leaves in a fine cloud of yellow, pink, white or violet flowers. Epimedium grows in a humus rich, moist soil with a good drainage. The propagation is done by dividing or by seed. The seed must be sown just after harvest. It's good for the plant to be divided every 3. or 4. year. |