Eriocapitella
# Eriocapitella

Eriocapitella is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are native to Asia. The generic name Eriocapitella roughly translates to "growing in a small woolly head", which refers to the hairy ovary and fruit of some members of the genus. Cultivated plants are commonly known as fall-blooming anemones.

## Taxonomy

Eriocapitella was named by the Japanese botanist Takenoshin Nakai in 1941. It was proposed as a section of genus Anemone in 1991, but later segregated into genus Eriocapitella.

### Taxa

As of December 2020, Kew's Plants of the World Online (POWO) accepts 6 species in the genus Eriocapitella:

* Eriocapitella hupehensis (É.Lemoine) Christenh. & Byng
   * Basionym: Anemone japonica var. hupehensis Lemoine
* Eriocapitella japonica (Thunb.) Nakai
   * Basionym: Atragene japonica Thunb.
   * Synonym: Anemone hupehensis var. japonica (Thunb.) Bowles & Stearn
* Eriocapitella rivularis (Buch.-Ham. ex DC.) Christenh. & Byng
   * Basionym: Anemone rivularis Buch.-Ham. ex DC.
* Eriocapitella rupicola (Cambess.) Christenh. & Byng
   * Basionym: Anemone rupicola Cambess.
* Eriocapitella tomentosa (Maxim.) Christenh. & Byng
   * Basionym: Anemone japonica var. tomentosa Maxim.
   * Synonym: Anemone tomentosa (Maxim.) C.Pei
* Eriocapitella vitifolia (Buch.-Ham. ex DC.) Nakai
   * Basionym: Anemone vitifolia Buch.-Ham. ex DC.

An artificial hybrid is also recognized by POWO:

* Eriocapitella × hybrida (L.H.Bailey) Christenh. & Byng
   * Basionym: Anemone japonica var. hybrida L.H.Bailey
   * Synonym: Anemone × hybrida Paxton

The parents of the hybrid are E. japonica and E. vitifolia. Historically, the hybrid was developed in Europe after E. japonica was brought to England in 1843.

### Etymology

The Latin word capitellatus (or capitellata) means "growing in a small head". Since the prefix erio- (from the Greek ἔριον) means "woolly" (or "wool"), the generic name Eriocapitella translates to "growing in a small woolly head". Presumably this refers to the hairy ovary and fruit of some of the taxa in the genus.

## Distribution

Plants of genus Eriocapitella are native to Asia. They are found throughout the Himalaya region, across much of East Asia and Southeast Asia, ranging as far south as Sumatra.

* Western Himalaya: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India
* Eastern Himalaya: Nepal, Assam (northeast India), Tibet, Qinghai (northwest China)
* East and Southeast Asia: China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar
* South Asia: Sri Lanka

Plants of the genus have been introduced to Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, Germany, Japan, Korea, and elsewhere.

## Cultivation

Plants of genus Eriocapitella have been cultivated since at least the 17th century, probably as far back as the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). During that time, a form of E. hupehensis with smaller, semi-double flowers and pink sepals escaped cultivation and spread across China to Japan and Korea. This form of E. hupehensis, brought to England from China by the plant explorer Robert Fortune in 1843, became known as the Japanese anemone (E. japonica). European horticulturists crossed the Japanese anemone with E. vitifolia, a wide-ranging Asian species with white sepals. Today we find a large number of Japanese anemone hybrids (E. × hybrida) with single, semi-double, or double flowers having white, pink, or purple sepals.

Fall-blooming anemones usually have white or pink blossoms with a globe-shaped seed head. Newly opened blossoms mingle with the seed heads for several weeks between late July and October. The plants thrive in light to partial shade but will tolerate full sun as long as there’s sufficient moisture. Overly wet conditions should be avoided, and mulch should be applied in the fall, especially in northern climates. Japanese beetles, black blister beetles, and foliar nematodes can be a problem.

At the Chicago Botanic Garden, Rudy experimented with 26 cultivars of fall-blooming anemones over a 5-year period beginning in 1998. The experiments evaluated various cultivars of E. hupehensis, E. × hybrida, E. japonica, and E. tomentosa. About 40% of the cultivars had a bloom length of 50 days or more. The longest bloom length recorded was 65 days.

| Cultivar | Flower color | Flower form | Height | Width | Bloom period | Bloom length | Origin |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| E. hupehensis 'Hadspen Abundance' | pale purple | single | 27 in. | 40 in. | mid Sep-early Nov | 45.2 days | Hadspen Garden, Sommerset, England |
| E. hupehensis 'Praecox' | pink | single | 50 in. | 33 in. | late Jul-early Oct | 51.8 days | Germany, 1935 |
| E. hupehensis 'Superba' | lavender pink | semi-double | 26 in. | 29 in. | early Sep-early Nov | 47.2 days | |
| E. × hybrida 'Alba' | white | single | | | mid Sep-late Oct | 24.0 days | |
| E. × hybrida 'Alice' | pale pink | semi-double | 32 in. | 37 in. | mid Sep-early Nov | 53.5 days | W. Pfitzer, Germany |
| E. × hybrida 'Andrea Atkinson' | white | single to semi-double | 35 in. | 20 in. | late Aug-mid Nov | 64.7 days | |
| E. × hybrida 'Avalanche' | white | double | | | mid Aug-late Oct | 37.0 days | |
| E. × hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' | white | single to semi-double | 40 in. | 33 in. | mid Sep-mid Nov | 45.8 days | France, 1858 |
| E. × hybrida 'Königin Charlotte' | pale pink | semi-double | 36 in. | 31 in. | late Sep-early Nov | 25.4 days | W. Pfitzer, Germany, 1898 |
| E. × hybrida 'Kriemhilde' | pink | single to semi-double | 30 in. | 19 in. | late Aug-early Nov | 56.0 days | Germany, 1908 |
| E. × hybrida 'Lady Gilmour' | pale pink | single | | | late Sep-late Oct | 16.0 days | France |
| E. × hybrida 'Loreley' | pink | semi-double | | | | 0.0 days | |
| E. × hybrida 'Margarete' | deep pink | semi-double | 22 in. | 30 in. | late Aug-early Nov | 49.3 days | Germany |
| E. × hybrida 'Max Vogel' | pink | semi-double | 43 in. | 35 in. | mid Aug-early Nov | 62.5 days | |
| E. × hybrida 'Montrose' | pale purple | double | 27 in. | 30 in. | mid Sep-early Nov | 43.5 days | France |
| E. × hybrida 'Richard Ahrens' | pink | single to semi-double | 27 in. | 31 in. | mid Sep-late Oct | 48.7 days | W. Pfitzer, Germany, 1921 |
| E. × hybrida 'Robustissima' | pink | single | 41 in. | 40 in. | late Aug-mid Nov | 63.0 days | France, 1900 |
| E. × hybrida 'September Charm' | pale purple | single | 30 in. | 20 in. | late Aug-early Nov | 48.2 days | England, 1932 |
| E. × hybrida 'Serenade' | pink | semi-double | 23 in. | 40 in. | mid Aug-late Oct | 64.5 days | |
| E. × hybrida 'Victor Jones' | pale pink | single | 31 in. | 35 in. | late Aug-mid Oct | 53.4 days | |
| E. × hybrida 'Whirlwind' | white | semi-double | 27 in. | 35 in. | early Sep-early Nov | 41.1 days | Rochester, NY 1887 |
| E. japonica 'Bressingham Glow' | deep pink | semi-double to double | 20 in. | 32 in. | early Sep-early Nov | 54.2 days | Alan Bloom, England |
| E. japonica 'Pamina' | deep pink | semi-double to double | 30 in. | 28 in. | late Aug-late Oct | 46.8 days | Germany |
| E. japonica 'Prinz Heinrich' | rose pink | semi-double to double | 28 in. | 31 in. | early Sep-early Nov | 64.8 days | Germany, 1902 |
| E. japonica 'Splendens' | rose pink | single to semi-double | 25 in. | 34 in. | late Aug-early Nov | 61.2 days | 1920 |
| E. tomentosa 'Alba' | white | single | | | late Sep-early Nov | 22.0 days | |

As of March 2020, the following cultivars have gained the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) from the Royal Horticultural Society:

* E. hupehensis 'Bowles's Pink'
* E. × hybrida 'Elegans'
* E. hupehensis 'Hadspen Abundance'
* E. × hybrida 'Honorine Jobert'
* E. × hybrida 'Königin Charlotte' ('Queen Charlotte')
* E. japonica 'Pamina'
* E. japonica 'Rotkäppchen'
* E. × hybrida 'September Charm'

The cultivars E. × hybrida 'Andrea Atkinson', E. × hybrida 'Lady Gilmour', E. japonica 'Prinz Heinrich', and E. × hybrida 'Robustissima' were removed from the AGM list in 2013.

