Syneilesis palm, Rustic umbrella plant, Syneilesis palmata: plant, cultivate, multiply

Syneilesis palmatathe palmate syneilesis or palmate syneilesis is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the large family Asteraceae, just like the daisies or lettuces. Syneilesis palmata originates from Japan and Korea. It is a forest or forest edge plant. The little kind Syneilesis offers remarkable ornamental foliage, fascinating and original.

The palmate syneilesis is one of the 2 species mainly proposed by a few passionate nurserymen, but it is still far too rare, because of its rather slow propagation. If you are lucky enough to find it and you have a shady bed or undergrowth, do not hesitate to adopt it, because in addition to its beauty, the palmate syneilesis is a robust and very hardy plant, which will grow from year to year. The common Japanese for syneilesis is ” Yabure-gasa which translates to broken umbrella!

Description de Syneilesis palmata

Palmate syneilesis is a rhizomatous plant, whose rhizome spreads very slowly: 60 cm wide in 5 or 6 years. Around the month of March, from this rhizome rise either leaves or flowering stems with 2 or 3 leaves.

These young shoots are remarkable and draw a charming spectacle, as they both have the shape of a small, half-open umbrella and are covered in silks, almost fluffy.

Single leaves are peeled, that is to say carried by a petiole inserted in the middle of the blade. This straight, thick and rigid petiole, 30 to 60 cm erect, bears a magnificent limb in the shape of an umbrella, rounded and cut into about ten more or less toothed lobes. This limb can extend 25 to 40 cm wide, drooping slightly if it is freezing or hot.

The flowering stems show peltate then cauline leaves. They rise up to 120 cm at the time of flowering. They end in a few inflorescences in flower heads (characteristic of Asteraceae), but conical in shape, elongated by a few centimeters with pinkish-white ligules. They are not the most decorative flowersbut they are soft to the touch, and fragrant.

Syneilesis palmata only produces viable seeds most often if it can take advantage of cross-pollination. The full seeds are 4 mm long and plump, surmounted by a pappus. Nevertheless, it can happen that an isolated individual makes 1 or 2.

Lapsed, palmate-leaved syneilesis disappears in autumnits leaves are sometimes beautifully colored before dying.

Varieties and cultivars of Syneilesis palmata

The leaves of Syneilesis palmata in wild populations show an interesting variability of shapes. And as often, Japanese nurseries have applied themselves to selecting and collecting very beautiful cultivars, some of which reach as far as Europe:

• Syneilesis palmata ‘Hagoromo’ is a variation selected by the Japanese whose leaf lobes are deeply crenate.
• Syneilesis palmata ‘Shishi Ba’ is a collection plant with large, wavy and incised lobes, which could be described as “frilly”
• Syneilesis palmata ‘Kikko’ is a remarkable selection of Syneilesis palmata whose veins are white and draw an elegant reticle on the blade.
• Syneilesis palmata ‘New Kikko’ is a version with thicker, yellow lines.
• For lovers of variegated foliage, there is Syneilesis palmata ‘Variegated’but also other varieties with a more “Japanese” name such as ‘Tail‘with creamy leaves or ‘Haka Fu‘ variegated and tinged with rose.

How to grow palmate syneilesis?

Syneilesis palmata is a strong plant, ultimately quite easy to grow except that it grows slowly and takes a few years to settle. To get an idea: from the germinated seed to the mature 60 cm wide plant, it takes about 5 or 6 years.

Elle appreciates a partial shade exposure if the soil remains cool all summer, or in full shade, preferable if the summer becomes a little too dry. Indeed, even if it is able to survive for years when the situation is unsuitable, for it to become magnificent, it is necessary to offer this plant a fresh and draining soil. It likes rich, humus-rich undergrowth soilwith a slightly acidic or neutral pH.

If your soil is too clayey, it will be necessary to create a more humus-rich place, for example with a lot of compost or with pruning and shredding waste that has been semi-decomposed for 1 to 3 years, to imitate the humus of the woods.

Slugs are sometimes fond of young new shoots in Marchso if there is mulching, which can be very useful for the summer, it will be installed during May/June, once the leaves have hardened off.

If webbed syneilesis lacks water in the summer, it will go dormant early.

Every winter it can be nourished by a light supply of compost on the surfacebefore it restarts.

How to multiply Syneilesis palmata ?

Divisions are possible by taking a piece of rhizome from the periphery of large plants, but avoid disturbing the whole plant which prefers to settle.

Sowing is interestingbut it is difficult to obtain viable seeds.

This is why it will be a good idea to check all the seed heads to see if there are a few plump seeds (4 mm long without their pappus, thick and firm).

Seeds germinate easily when hot (20°C). The seedlings have the particularity of showing only 1 spherical cotyledon (although it is a dicotyledonous plant). The first true leaf (cut) arrives in autumn or the following spring.

Different species Syneilesis

Around 6 or 7 species in this genus:

• Syneilesis aconitifoliumaconite-leaved syneilesis
• Syneilesis subglabratawith finely cut leaves also
• Syneilesis hayataefound in northern Japan
• Syneilesis of the skina new species recently described
• Syneilesis tagawaewith slightly more cut foliage than palmata, but less than aconitifolium
• Syneilesis australisanother beautiful species with notched foliage