Hydrangea
Encyclopedia
Hydrangea is a genus of about 70 to 75 species of flowering plant
s native to southern and eastern Asia
(China
, Japan
, Korea
, the Himalayas
, and Indonesia
) and North
and South America
. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China
, Japan
, and Korea
. Most are shrub
s 1 to 3 meters tall, but some are small tree
s, and others liana
s reaching up to 30 metres by climbing up trees. They can be either deciduous
or evergreen
, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.
Having been introduced to the Azores
Islands of Portugal
, they are now very common there, particularly on Faial
, which is known as the "blue island" due to the vast number of hydrangeas present on the island, Terceira
, named the "lilac island" for hydrangeas of that colour, on Flores Island ("Island of Flowers") and São Miguel
, named the "green island" for its floral biodiversity.
Species in the related genus Schizophragma
, also in Hydrangeaceae, are also often known as hydrangeas. Schizophragma hydrangeoides and Hydrangea petiolaris
are both commonly known as climbing hydrangeas.
There are two flower arrangements in hydrangeas. Mophead flowers are large round flowerheads resembling pom-poms or, as the name implies, the head of a mop. In contrast, lacecap flowers bear round, flat flowerheads with a center core of subdued, fertile flowers surrounded by outer rings of showy, sterile flowers.
s are produced from early spring to late autumn; they grow in flowerheads (corymbs or panicle
s) at the ends of the stems. In many species, the flowerheads contain two types of flowers, small fertile flowers in the middle of the flowerhead, and large, sterile bract-like flowers in a ring around the edge of each flowerhead. Other species have all the flowers sterile and of the same size.
, but in some species (notably H. macrophylla), can be blue, red, pink, light purple, or dark purple. In these species the color is affected by the pH
of the soil; acid
ic which can be taken up into hyperaccumulating plant
s.
s, grown for their large flowerheads, with Hydrangea macrophylla
being by far the most widely grown with over 600 named cultivar
s, many selected to have only large sterile flowers in the flowerheads. Some are best pruned on an annual basis when the new leaf buds begin to appear. If not pruned regularly, the bush will become very 'leggy', growing upwards until the weight of the stems is greater than their strength, at which point the stems will sag down to the ground and possibly break. Other species only flower on 'old wood'. Thus new wood resulting from pruning will not produce flowers until the following season.
Hydrangeas are moderately toxic if eaten, with all parts of the plant containing cyanogenic glycosides. Hydrangea paniculata
is reportedly sometimes smoked as an intoxicant, despite the danger of illness and/or death due to the cyanide.
In Japan, ama-cha, meaning sweet tea, is another herbal tea made from Hydrangea serrata, whose leaves contain a substance that develops a sweet taste (phyllodulcin). For the fullest taste, fresh leaves are crumpled, steamed, and dried, yielding dark brown tea leaves. Ama-cha is mainly used for kan-butsu-e (the Buddha
bathing ceremony) on April 8 every year—the day thought to be Buddha's birthday in Japan. Ama-cha is poured over a statue of Buddha in the ceremony and served to people in attendance. A legend has it that on the day Buddha was born, nine dragon
s poured Amrita
over him; ama-cha is substituted for Amrita in Japan.
In Korean tea
, Hydrangea serrata
(hangul
:산수국 hanja
:) is used for a herbal tea called sugukcha (수국차) or ilsulcha (이슬차).
The pink hydrangea has risen in popularity all over the world, but especially in Asia. Pink hydrangeas have many different meanings, but generally means, "You are the beat of my heart", as described by the celebrated Asian florist Tan Jun Yong, where he was quoted saying, "The light delicate blush of the petals reminds me of a beating heart, while the size could only match the heart of the sender!"
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s native to southern and eastern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) and North
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. Most are shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s 1 to 3 meters tall, but some are small tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s, and others liana
Liana
A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...
s reaching up to 30 metres by climbing up trees. They can be either deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
or evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.
Having been introduced to the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
Islands of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, they are now very common there, particularly on Faial
Faial Island
Faial Island , also known in English as Fayal, is a Portuguese island of the Central Group of the Azores....
, which is known as the "blue island" due to the vast number of hydrangeas present on the island, Terceira
Terceira Island
Referred to as the “Ilha Lilás” , Terceira is an island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 56,000 inhabitants in an area of approximately 396.75 km²...
, named the "lilac island" for hydrangeas of that colour, on Flores Island ("Island of Flowers") and São Miguel
São Miguel Island
São Miguel Island , nicknamed "The Green Island", is the largest and most populous island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago. The island covers and has around 140,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of these people located in the largest city in the archipelago: Ponta Delgada.-History:In 1427, São Miguel...
, named the "green island" for its floral biodiversity.
Species in the related genus Schizophragma
Schizophragma
Schizophragma is a genus of four species of lianas in the Hydrangeaceae, native to Asia from the Himalaya east to Taiwan and Japan. One species, S. hydrangeoides, is known as Climbing Hydrangea Vine....
, also in Hydrangeaceae, are also often known as hydrangeas. Schizophragma hydrangeoides and Hydrangea petiolaris
Hydrangea petiolaris
Hydrangea petiolaris, a Climbing hydrangea , is a species of Hydrangea native to the woodlands of Japan, the Korean peninsula, and on Sakhalin island of easternmost Siberia in the Russian Far East...
are both commonly known as climbing hydrangeas.
There are two flower arrangements in hydrangeas. Mophead flowers are large round flowerheads resembling pom-poms or, as the name implies, the head of a mop. In contrast, lacecap flowers bear round, flat flowerheads with a center core of subdued, fertile flowers surrounded by outer rings of showy, sterile flowers.
Life cycle
Hydrangea flowerFlower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are produced from early spring to late autumn; they grow in flowerheads (corymbs or panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
s) at the ends of the stems. In many species, the flowerheads contain two types of flowers, small fertile flowers in the middle of the flowerhead, and large, sterile bract-like flowers in a ring around the edge of each flowerhead. Other species have all the flowers sterile and of the same size.
Colors and acidity
In most species the flowers are whiteWhite
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
, but in some species (notably H. macrophylla), can be blue, red, pink, light purple, or dark purple. In these species the color is affected by the pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
of the soil; acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
ic which can be taken up into hyperaccumulating plant
Phytoremediation, Hyperaccumulators
This article covers known hyperaccumulators, accumulators or species tolerant to the following: Aluminium , Silver , Arsenic , Beryllium , Chromium , Copper , Manganese , Mercury , Molybdenum , Naphthalene, Lead , Palladium , Platinum , Selenium et Zinc .See also:*Hyperaccumulators table – 2 :...
s.
Partial list of species
- Hydrangea anomalaHydrangea anomalaHydrangea anomala is a species of hydrangea native to the woodlands of the Himalaya, southern and central China and northern Myanmar.It is a woody climbing plant, growing to 12 m height up trees or rock faces, climbing by means of small aerial roots on the stems...
(Climbing Hydrangea). Himalaya, southwest Mainland China. - Hydrangea arborescensHydrangea arborescensHydrangea arborescens, commonly known as Smooth Hydrangea, Wild Hydrangea, or Sevenbark, is a small to medium sized, deciduous shrub up to 3 m tall that is native to the eastern United States.-Range/Habitat:...
(Smooth Hydrangea). Eastern North America. - Hydrangea asperaHydrangea asperaHydrangea aspera is a shrub native to the region between the Himalaya, across southern China, to Taiwan. The flowers are typically borne in large heads and are in variable shades of pale blue....
. Mainland China, Himalaya. - Hydrangea bretschneideriHydrangea bretschneideriHydrangea bretschneideri is a flowering plant of the Hydrangea genus, native to most of China.Discovered in the mountains around Beijing, China by Dr. Bretschneider in 1882. The Hydrangea bretschneideri is a sturdy, bushy, deciduous scrub with peeling chestnut-brown bark...
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea candidaHydrangea candidaHydrangea candida is a species of Hydrangea, native to Guanxi Province, China. It was first formally described by Woon Young Chun in 1954.-External links:* at eflora.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea caudatifoliaHydrangea caudatifoliaHydrangea caudatifolia is a species of Hydrangea found in China. It was formally described by W.T. Wang and M.X. Nie in 1981.-External links:* aw www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea chinensisHydrangea chinensisHydrangea chinensis is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea chungiiHydrangea chungiiHydrangea chungii is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China. It was formally described by J. Arnold Rehder, in 1931.-External links:* at www.efloras.com....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea cinereaHydrangea cinereaHydrangea cinerea is a small to medium sized, deciduous shrub up to 3 m tall; its natural range is interior regions of the southeastern United States...
(Ashy Hydrangea). Eastern United States. - Hydrangea coactaHydrangea coactaHydrangea coacta is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China. It was formally described by C.F. Wei in 1994.-External links:* at www.efloras.com....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea coenobialisHydrangea coenobialisHydrangea coenobialis is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea davidiiHydrangea davidiiHydrangea davidii is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China.-External links:* at www.efloras.com....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea dumicolaHydrangea dumicolaHydrangea dumicola is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China. It was formally described by W.W. Smith in 1917.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea gracilisHydrangea gracilisHydrangea gracilis is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China. It was formally described by W.T. Wang and M.X. Nie in 1981.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea heteromallaHydrangea heteromallaHydrangea heteromalla is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to the Himalayas and China. Average height is 10'-15' with inflorescences that are 5"-8" across and bloom May-June,full flowering only occurs in full sun.Is a very adaptable plant that is hardy to USDA zones 5-7...
. Himalaya, west and north Mainland China. - Hydrangea hirtaHydrangea hirtaHydrangea hirta is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to Japan.-External links:* at Plants for a Future.org....
. Japan. - Hydrangea hypoglaucaHydrangea hypoglaucaHydrangea hypoglauca is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea integrifoliaHydrangea integrifoliaHydrangea integrifolia is a species of Hydrangea, native to Taiwan....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea involucrataHydrangea involucrataHydrangea involucrata is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to Japan and Taiwan....
. Japan, Taiwan. - Hydrangea kawakamiiHydrangea kawakamiiHydrangea kawakamii is a species of Hydrangea, native to Taiwan.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Taiwan. - Hydrangea kwangsiensisHydrangea kwangsiensisHydrangea kwangsiensis is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea kwangtungensisHydrangea kwangtungensisHydrangea kwangtungensis is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea lingiiHydrangea lingiiHydrangea lingii is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea linkweiensisHydrangea linkweiensisHydrangea linkweiensis is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea longifoliaHydrangea longifoliaHydrangea longifolia is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea longipesHydrangea longipesHydrangea longipes is a species of Hydrangea, native to western China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Western China. - Hydrangea macrocarpaHydrangea macrocarpaHydrangea macrocarpa is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophyllaHydrangea macrophylla is a species of Hydrangea native to Japan. Common names include Bigleaf Hydrangea, French Hydrangea, Lacecap Hydrangea, Mophead Hydrangea, Penny Mac and Hortensia...
(Bigleaf Hydrangea). Southeast Japan. - Hydrangea mangshanensisHydrangea mangshanensisHydrangea mangshanensis is a species of Hydrangea flower, native to China.-External links:* at www.efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea paniculataHydrangea paniculataHydrangea paniculata, commonly known as the panicled hydrangea, is a species of Hydrangea found in eastern China, Korea, Japan, and Sakhalin. It was first formally described by Philipp Franz von Siebold in 1829...
(Panicled Hydrangea). Eastern Mainland China, Japan, Korea, Sakhalin. - Hydrangea petiolarisHydrangea petiolarisHydrangea petiolaris, a Climbing hydrangea , is a species of Hydrangea native to the woodlands of Japan, the Korean peninsula, and on Sakhalin island of easternmost Siberia in the Russian Far East...
(Climbing Hydrangea). Japan, Korea, Sakhalin. - Hydrangea quercifoliaHydrangea quercifoliaHydrangea quercifolia, commonly known by its translation Oakleaf hydrangea, is a species of hydrangea native to the Southeastern United States, in woodland habitats from North Carolina west to Tennessee, and south to Florida and Louisiana....
(Oakleaf Hydrangea). Southeast United States. - Hydrangea radiataHydrangea radiataHydrangea radiata is an attractive, deciduous shrub up to 3 m tall; its natural range is limited to the southern Appalachians, where it is fairly common...
(Silverleaf Hydrangea). Southeast United States. - Hydrangea robustaHydrangea robustaHydrangea robusta is a species of Hydrangea, native to China and the Himalayas.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China, Himalaya. - Hydrangea sargentianaHydrangea sargentianaHydrangea sargentiana is a species of Hydrangea, native to western China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Western Mainland China. - Hydrangea scandensHydrangea scandensHydrangea scandens is a species of Hydrangea, native to southern Japan....
. Southern Japan south to the Philippines. - Hydrangea serrataHydrangea serrataHydrangea serrata is a species of Hydrangea native to mountainous regions of eastern Asia and Japan; common names include mountain hydrangea and tea of heaven...
. Japan, Korea. - Hydrangea serratifoliaHydrangea serratifoliaHydrangea serratifolia is a species of Hydrangea, native to Chile and Argentina....
. Chile, western Argentina. - Hydrangea stenophyllaHydrangea stenophyllaHydrangea stenophylla is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea strigosaHydrangea strigosaHydrangea strigosa is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea stylosaHydrangea stylosaHydrangea stylosa is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea sungpanensisHydrangea sungpanensisHydrangea sungpanensis is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea xanthoneuraHydrangea xanthoneuraHydrangea xanthoneura is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China. - Hydrangea zhewanensisHydrangea zhewanensisHydrangea zhewanensis is a species of Hydrangea, native to China.-External links:* at efloras.org....
. Mainland China.
Cultivation and uses
Hydrangeas are popular ornamental plantOrnamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
s, grown for their large flowerheads, with Hydrangea macrophylla
Hydrangea macrophylla
Hydrangea macrophylla is a species of Hydrangea native to Japan. Common names include Bigleaf Hydrangea, French Hydrangea, Lacecap Hydrangea, Mophead Hydrangea, Penny Mac and Hortensia...
being by far the most widely grown with over 600 named cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s, many selected to have only large sterile flowers in the flowerheads. Some are best pruned on an annual basis when the new leaf buds begin to appear. If not pruned regularly, the bush will become very 'leggy', growing upwards until the weight of the stems is greater than their strength, at which point the stems will sag down to the ground and possibly break. Other species only flower on 'old wood'. Thus new wood resulting from pruning will not produce flowers until the following season.
Hydrangeas are moderately toxic if eaten, with all parts of the plant containing cyanogenic glycosides. Hydrangea paniculata
Hydrangea paniculata
Hydrangea paniculata, commonly known as the panicled hydrangea, is a species of Hydrangea found in eastern China, Korea, Japan, and Sakhalin. It was first formally described by Philipp Franz von Siebold in 1829...
is reportedly sometimes smoked as an intoxicant, despite the danger of illness and/or death due to the cyanide.
In Japan, ama-cha, meaning sweet tea, is another herbal tea made from Hydrangea serrata, whose leaves contain a substance that develops a sweet taste (phyllodulcin). For the fullest taste, fresh leaves are crumpled, steamed, and dried, yielding dark brown tea leaves. Ama-cha is mainly used for kan-butsu-e (the Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
bathing ceremony) on April 8 every year—the day thought to be Buddha's birthday in Japan. Ama-cha is poured over a statue of Buddha in the ceremony and served to people in attendance. A legend has it that on the day Buddha was born, nine dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
s poured Amrita
Amrita
Amrit is a Sanskrit word that literally means "immortality", and is often referred to in texts as nectar. The word's earliest occurrence is in the Rigveda where it is one of several synonyms of soma, the drink which confers immortality upon the gods. It is related etymologically to the Greek...
over him; ama-cha is substituted for Amrita in Japan.
In Korean tea
Korean tea
Korean tea refers to various types of tisane that can be served hot or cold. Not necessarily related to "common" tea, they are made from diverse substances including fruits, leaves, roots, and grains used in traditional Korean medicine....
, Hydrangea serrata
Hydrangea serrata
Hydrangea serrata is a species of Hydrangea native to mountainous regions of eastern Asia and Japan; common names include mountain hydrangea and tea of heaven...
(hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
:산수국 hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
:) is used for a herbal tea called sugukcha (수국차) or ilsulcha (이슬차).
The pink hydrangea has risen in popularity all over the world, but especially in Asia. Pink hydrangeas have many different meanings, but generally means, "You are the beat of my heart", as described by the celebrated Asian florist Tan Jun Yong, where he was quoted saying, "The light delicate blush of the petals reminds me of a beating heart, while the size could only match the heart of the sender!"