Common Name: leopard plant
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Asteraceae
Native Range: China, Japan
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 3.00 to 4.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to July
Bloom Description: Yellow
Sun: Part shade to full shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Rain Garden
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Heavy Shade, Wet Soil
Culture
Best grown in humusy, organically rich, medium to wet soils in part shade to full shade. Must have moist soils that never dry out. Benefits from a regular, deep watering in hot summers. Foliage will wilt in too much sun. Needs a shaded location in the St. Louis area. Site plants in areas protected from strong winds.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Ligularia dentata, commonly called leopard plant, is native to China and Japan. It is an imposing, clump-forming perennial that is grown in gardens as much for its foliage as for its flowers. Its best ornamental feature may be the foliage which consists of huge, long-stalked, leathery, rounded, cordate-based, dark green leaves (12” or more long) that form a basal clump to 3-4’ tall. Daisy-like, orange-yellow flowers (2-3” across) with brownish-yellow centers bloom in loose corymbs atop thick, mostly leafless stalks that rise above the foliage in early summer. Sometimes commonly called big leaf ligularia. Synonymous with and formerly known as Senecio clivorum.
Genus name comes from the Latin word ligula meaning strap in reference to the shape of the ray flowers.
Specific epithet means toothed.
Several excellent cultivars with purple stems and purple lower leaf surfaces (‘Desdemona’ and ‘Othello’) are commonly sold.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Slugs and snails are often attracted to the foliage. Even with adequate soil moisture, leaf wilting may occur in hot summer climates (foliage droops in afternoons with recovery at night), particularly when the plant is exposed to too much sun.
Uses
Group or mass in moist or wet areas of shade or woodland gardens, or along streams, ponds, pools or bog gardens. Good plant for a shady area on the north side of a house. Can be grown in a shaded area of the border if the soil moisture requirements can be met. Grow with interrupted fern (Osmunda claytonia) or Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii) which share the same general cultural requirements.