Glaucidium is a genus of plants in family Ranunculaceae, comprising a single species Glaucidium palmatum (Japanese wood poppy; シラネアオイ Shirane-aoi). It is endemic to northern and eastern Japan on Hokkaidō and northeastern Honshū on mountains close to the Sea of Japan.[1][2]

Glaucidium palmatum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Subfamily: Glaucidioideae
Loconte
Genus: Glaucidium
Siebold & Zucc.
Species:
G. palmatum
Binomial name
Glaucidium palmatum

It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant growing to 40 cm tall with a rigid stem with two large (20 cm diameter) palmately lobed leaves at the top and small membraneous leaves lower on the stem. The flower is produced singly at the top of the stem, 8 cm in diameter, with four pink to pale purple (rarely white) petaloid sepals, numerous stamens and two carpels. The fruit is a cluster of follicles.[3]

It is sometimes placed in its own family Glaucidiaceae, or in the past in the family Paeoniaceae.[2] Paeoniaceae, however, has now been shown unequivocally to belong in Saxifragales,[4] while Glaucidium is firmly in the family Ranunculaceae.[5]

In cultivation, Glaucidium palmatum prefers a cool, moist, sheltered position in partial shade.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Shiro Tsuyuzaki, Hokkaido University: Japanese Wood Poppy Archived 2005-06-28 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Germplasm Resources Information Network: Glaucidium Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
  4. ^ Jian, Shuguang; Soltis, Pamela S.; Gitzendanner, Matthew A.; Moore, Michael J.; Li, Ruiqi; Hendry, Tory A.; Qiu, Yin-Long; Dhingra, Amit; Bell, Charles D.; Soltis, Douglas E. (2008). "Resolving an Ancient, Rapid Radiation in Saxifragales". Systematic Biology. 57 (1): 38–57. doi:10.1080/10635150801888871. PMID 18275001.
  5. ^ Wei Wang; An-Ming Lu; Yi Ren; Mary E. Endress; Zhi-Duan Chen (2009). "Phylogeny and Classification of Ranunculales: Evidence from four molecular loci and morphological data". Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. 11 (2): 81–110. Bibcode:2009PPEES..11...81W. doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2009.01.001.
  6. ^ "Glaucidium palmatum". www.rhs.org. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 25 July 2023.