A genus of about 70 to 75 species of flowering native to southern and eastern Asia and North and South America. Most are shrubs 1 to 3 meters tall, but some are small trees, and others lianas reaching up to 30 metres by climbing up trees. They can be either deciduous or evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.
Hydrangea flowers are produced from early spring to late autumn; they grow in flower heads at the ends of the stems. In many species, the flower heads contain two types of flowers, small fertile flowers in the middle, and large, sterile bract-like flowers in a ring around the edge of each flower head. Other species have all the flowers sterile and of the same size.
In most species the flowers are white, but in some species (notably Hydrangea. macrophylla), can be blue, red, pink, light purple, or dark purple. In these species the colour is affected by the pH of the soil.
An acidic soil (pH below 6) will usually produce flower colour closer to blue, whereas an alkaline soil (pH above 6) will produce flowers more pink.
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Ref: DSC_0035_pe0014_lo
Date: 10/07/2012
Location: Madeira, Portugal
Photographer: Ron Leggat ARPS