Fatsia

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Campanulids
Ordo: Apiales

Familia: Araliaceae
Subfamilia: Aralioideae
Genus: Fatsia
Species:
F. japonica - F. oligocarpella - F. polycarpaName

Fatsia Decne. & Planch., Rev. Hort. ser. 4. 3: 105 (1854).

Type species: Fatsia japonica (Thunb.) Decne. & Planch.

Synonyms

Boninofatsia Nakai, J. Arnold Arbor. 5: 17 (1924).
Diplofatsia Nakai, J. Arnold Arbor. 5: 18. (1924).

References

Decaisne, J. & Planchon, J.É., 1854. Rev. Hort. (Paris), sér. 4, 3: 105.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Fatsia Decne. & Planch. in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 2013-11-05.
Fatsia at the Flora of Japan
Fatsia at the Flora of China
Fatsia – Taxon details on National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
EOL: Fatsia

Vernacular names
dansk: Stuearalie-slægten
suomi: Huonearaliat
日本語: ヤツデ属

Fatsia is a small genus of three species of evergreen shrubs in the family Araliaceae native to southern Japan and Taiwan. They typically have stout, sparsely branched stems bearing spirally-arranged, large leathery, palmately lobed leaves 20–50 cm in width, on a petiole up to 50 cm long, and small creamy-white flowers in dense terminal compound umbels in late autumn or early winter, followed by small black fruit. The genus was formerly classified within a broader interpretation of the related genus Aralia.

Fatsia japonica (fatsi, Japanese aralia, glossy-leaved paper plant, false castor oil plant, fig-leaf palm) is a shrub growing to 3–6 m tall. The leaves have 7–9 broad lobes, divided to half or two-thirds of the way to the base of the leaf; the lobes are edged with coarse, blunt teeth.

Fatsia oligocarpella, from the Bonin Islands, differs in the lobes on the leaves being less coarsely toothed, but is otherwise very similar. It is naturalised in Hawaii.

Fatsia polycarpa is native to Taiwan's mountainous areas. The leaves have 9–13 deep, narrow lobes, divided nearly to the base of the leaf. Some authors treat it in a separate genus, as Diplofatsia polycarpa.

A sterile hybrid between Fatsia japonica and Hedera hibernica, named × Fatshedera lizei, has been produced in cultivation in western Europe in both plain green and variegated forms.

Some species formerly included in Fatsia are now classified in other genera. Fatsia papyrifera is now Tetrapanax papyrifer and Fatsia horrida is now Oplopanax horridus.

A small Fatsia japonica leaf

Close-up of flower umbel

Fatsia, Japanese aralia at Rosalie Mansion in Natchez, Mississippi

References