Trollius chinensis Bunge

Stems more than 20 cm tall, to 80 cm at fruiting, simple. Basal leaves 1--4; petiole 12--30 cm, base narrowly sheathed; leaf blade not green when dried, pentagonal, 3.8--6.8 × 6.8--12.5 cm, base cordate, 3-sect; central segment rhombic, 3-fid to or beyond middle, margin densely unequally dentate; lateral segments obliquely flabellate, 2-fid nearly to base. Cauline leaves similar to basal ones, shortly petiolate or sessile. Pedicel 5--9 cm. Flower solitary, or 2 or 3 flowers in a terminal cyme, 3.8--5.5 cm in diam. Sepals (6--)10--15(--19), golden yellow, not green when dried, elliptic-obovate or obovate, 1.5--2.8 × 0.7--1.6 cm, apex rounded. Petals 18--21, narrowly linear, subequaling or longer than sepals, rarely shorter than sepals, 1.8--2.2 cm × 1.2--1.5 mm. Stamens 0.5--1.1 cm. Follicles 20--30, 1--1.2 cm × ca. 3 mm; persistent style ca. 1 mm. Seeds subovoid, ca. 1.5 mm, smooth. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Aug--Sep. 2n = 16*.

Plant 30-60 cm. Roots tufted. Basal leaves long-petioled, palmately 3-5 partites, 5-20 cm x 3-10 cm. Stem leaves smaller, upper sessile. Flowers large, 5-6 cm diam., orange-yellow. Petal nectaries twice as long as sepals. V - early spring to early autumn, in St. Petersburg April-September. Fl - a month later than the other species, in St. Petersburg July. P - mainly by division, also by seed. Undemanding as to soil, tolerates shade, prefers partial shade. Z 4 (3).

Stems more than 40 cm tall, to 100 cm at fruiting, simple. Basal leaves 2--4; petiole 10--28 cm, base narrowly sheathed; leaf blade not green when dried, pentagonal, 5.5--9.2 × 11--16 cm, 3-sect; central segment rhombic, 3-fid, ultimate lobules unequally dentate; lateral segments obliquely flabellate, unequally 2-fid. Cauline leaves 3 or 4, similar to basal ones. Flower solitary, 3.5--4.5 cm in diam. Sepals 5--7, golden yellow, orange-yellow when dried, broadly ovate or obovate, 1.5--2 (--2.5) × 1.2--1.5 cm, apex rounded. Petals 14--22, narrowly linear, longer than sepals, sometimes subequaling sepals, 1.8--2.6 cm × ca. 1 mm. Stamens 1--2 cm. Follicles 20--40, ca. 1.3 cm × 4 mm; persistent style 3.5--4 mm. Seeds black, narrowly obovoid-globose, ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Jul--Sep, fr. Jul.

Hebei, N Henan, W Jilin, W Liaoning, E Nei Mongol, Shanxi.

Far East (southern and western regions, Sakhalin), China and Japan. Wet meadows, shrub thickets, open places, forest margins.

Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning [N Korea, Russia (Far East)].

* Grassy slopes; 1000--2200 m.

Wet grasslands; 400--600 m.

Trollius asiaticus Linnaeus var. chinensis (Bunge) Maximowicz.

Trollius ledebourii Reichenbach var. macropetalus Regel, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg, Ser. 7, 4: 4. 1861; T. chinensis Bunge subsp. macropetalus (Regel) Luferov.

Trollius chinensis, the Chinese globeflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, found from southern Siberia to the southern Russian Far East, Sakhalin, the Kurils, Mongolia, Korea, and northern China (to north Henan). Its cultivar 'Golden Queen' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Flower, flowerbuds and foliage

Botanical illustration

Grouping

Flower and developing ovary