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 and 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 harvesting. It's good for the plant to be divided every 3th
or 4th year.
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