Mum’s the word

If you think chrysanthemums are only filler flowers in floral arrangements or the ubiquitous potted colour that appears just before Mother’s Day, think again. Chrysanthemums offer so much more, with their rich cultural significance and extraordinary array of flower diversity.

Many species are native to eastern Asia, and the flowers have long been revered in China and Japan. Japan’s monarchy is known as the Chrysanthemum Throne, and both countries hold important autumn festivals in which chrysanthemum liquor, or sake, is drunk, and the leaves are folded into pancake mixtures. Throughout the year, chrysanthemum tea (made from the petals) is drunk, and the foliage is used as leafy greens, either steamed or added to stews.

There used to be about 160 species of chrysanthemums, consisting mostly of annuals and perennials, but many have been reclassified, and today only about 40 remain. Of these, the most popular is Chrysanthemum x morifolium. The name is a bit of a catch-all for the popular florist ‘mums’, which are the result of hundreds of years of complex hybridising, and there are thousands of varieties to choose from worldwide!

With so much breeding comes a lot of diversity in flower shape, size, colour and flowering time, and there’s a classification system that groups every plant into its particular category. There are 13 shape categories (and the flowers need to be a particular size within each), which include pompom, spider, quill, anemone, decorative, incurve, reflex and more, and six colour categories.

For more on chrysanthemums, including tips for growing them at home, get the May issue of ABC Gardening Australia magazine – out now!

Header image credit: iStock