Species
+

Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) Ser.

Bigleaf Hydrangea, Chinese sweetleaf, French hydrangea, Garten-Hortensie (DE)

Climate known 70 photographs Temperate garden plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Hydrangea macrophylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae, native and endemic to Japan. It is a deciduous shrub growing to 3 m (10 ft) tall by 2.5 m (8 ft) or more broad with large heads of pink or blue flowers in summer and autumn. It is currently treated as monotypic, with no subspecies or varieties. Common names include bigleaf hydrangea, and, for particular cultivar groups, the names lacecap hydrangea, mophead hydrangea, and hortensia. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Hydrangea macrophylla”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Hydrangea

Hydrangea is a genus of more than 70 species of flowering plants native to Asia and the Americas. Hydrangea is also used as the common name for the genus; some are also often called hortensia. The genus was first described from Virginia in North America, but by far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Korea, and Japan. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Hydrangea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Hydrangeaceae
Described by
(Thunb.) Ser.
Native to
Japan, Kazan-retto
Wild records
86 in range· 70 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Aug, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1651mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 215 mm (CHELSA)
Light
15–34DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Hydrangea, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (April to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1651 mm a year, wettest September at 215 mm, driest December at 57 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 34 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 2.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as ? otaksa E.H.Wilson; Hortensia japonica J.F.Gmel.; Hortensia macrophylla (Thunb.) H.Ohba & S.Akiyama; Hortensia macrophylla f. isobue (H.Ohba & S.Akiyama) H.Ohba & S.Akiyama; Hortensia macrophylla f. isonotaki (H.Ohba & S.Akiyama) H.Ohba & S.Akiyama and 45 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Hydrangea, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (April to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1231 mm of 1651 mm) falls in April to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.7 °C against a yearly mean of 15.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1651 mm a year, wettest September at 215 mm, driest December at 57 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1651 mm a year at the habitat, 1231 mm of it April to October. Wettest month September at 215 mm, driest December at 57 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1373 mm to 3176 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 34 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 2.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 2.1 °C, the absolute minimum -0.9 °C, 7 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 1.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells -3.8 °C to 8.6 °C), warmest day 27.7 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Aug; mean night from 2 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1651 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 75 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 28.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost28.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 15–34RH 54–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 75 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 3–129 / 4–1212 / 7–1417 / 14–1820 / 18–2223 / 21–2526 / 24–2828 / 26–3025 / 23–2620 / 18–2216 / 12–1811 / 6–14
Night °C2 / -4–92 / -4–95 / -0–1110 / 5–1415 / 10–1818 / 15–2122 / 19–2424 / 21–2521 / 17–2415 / 11–2010 / 5–165 / -1–11
Rain mm65 / 44–16972 / 47–178123 / 86–278130 / 102–245149 / 120–260187 / 151–361189 / 143–258170 / 137–255215 / 188–356191 / 133–364103 / 79–24757 / 44–163
DLI17 / 16–1822 / 21–2326 / 25–2832 / 31–3434 / 32–3531 / 28–3332 / 29–3633 / 30–3725 / 23–2820 / 19–2216 / 16–1815 / 14–16
RH %54 / 53–6054 / 53–5957 / 55–6059 / 58–6162 / 60–6466 / 63–6968 / 65–7166 / 64–6964 / 62–6660 / 58–6358 / 56–6255 / 53–61

Each figure is the median across the 75 grid cells holding the 85 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1096:6382 (35.175, 139.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 75 distinct grid cells holding the 85 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1096:6382 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.00_139.375, lapse-corrected +152 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 221 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeJapan, Kazan-retto· introduced: Great Britain, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Italy, Central European Russia, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Mauritius, Réunion, China South-Central, China Southeast, Korea, Assam, East Himalaya, Vietnam, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Arkansas, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Juan Fernández Is., Tristan da Cunha
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker35.499, 139.578 · in the densest population, 61 records (71% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 86 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 70 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 11 km away. 1602 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 86 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Hydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophylla

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Jonas Kraft, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Louis Imbeau, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Mark Richman, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Hydrangea macrophylla, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Internal Detoxification Mechanism of Al in Hydrangea (Identification of Al Form in the Leaves)
J. F., Syuntaro Hiradate, Kyosuke Nomoto, Takashi Iwashita (1997) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Sepal Color Variation of Hydrangea macrophylla and Vacuolar pH Measured with a Proton-Selective Microelectrode
Kumi Yoshida, Yuki Toyama-Kato, Kiyoshi Kameda, Tadao Kondo (2003) · Plant and Cell Physiology
New type of anti-diabetic compounds from the processed leaves of Hydrangea macrophylla var. thunbergii (Hydrangeae Dulcis Folium)
Hailong Zhang, Hisashi Matsuda, Akira Kumahara, Yuki Ito (2007) · Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters
Blueing of sepal colour of Hydrangea macrophylla
Kŏsaku Takeda, Miyuki Kariuda, Hideaki Itoi (1985) · Phytochemistry
p‐Coumaroyltriacetic acid synthase, a new homologue of chalcone synthase, from Hydrangea macrophylla var. thunbergii
Takumi Akiyama, Masaaki Shibuya, Hong‐Min Liu, Yutaka Ebizuka (1999) · European Journal of Biochemistry
Relationships and evolution of Hydrangeaceae based on RBCl sequence data
Pamela S. Soltis, Qiu‐Yun Xiang, Larry Hufford (1995) · American Journal of Botany
Current and future distribution of the deciduous shrub Hydrangea macrophylla in China estimated by MaxEnt
Xingyue Yan, Shuchen Wang, Yu Duan, Jing Han (2021) · Ecology and Evolution
Role of aluminum in red-to-blue color changes in Hydrangea macrophylla sepals
Henry D. Schreiber, Andrew H. Jones, Corinne M. Lariviere, Kelly M. Mayhew (2011) · BioMetals
Changes in carbohydrates, ABA and bark proteins during seasonal cold acclimation and deacclimation in Hydrangea species differing in cold hardiness
Majken Pagter, Christian R. Jensen, Karen Koefoed Petersen, Fulai Liu (2008) · Physiologia Plantarum

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Hydrangea 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 131 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.