Very beautiful plants, but extremely troublesome. My friend collects them, but we have terrible problems with identifying which is which. Do please help - I have lots of photos, some with names, but I'm absolutely sure that some at least are incorrect :( First six photos are thought to be Ligularia sibirica (?) Photo #7 - Ligularia japonica? Photo #8 - Ligularia x palmatiloba? Photo #9 - Ligularia sibirica? Photo #10 - Two leaves - different, what are they? Photo #11 & 12 (another source) - Ligularia sibirica? Photo #13 - Ligularia x palmatiloba? Photo #14 & 15 - Ligularia x hessei? And if someone could point out significant differences and identifying characteristics of Ligularias, I would be eternally grateful! Regards, Barbara.
Offhand, Ligularia x hessei has kidney-shaped leaves, so I wouldn't agree with that ID for the second last photo (which is labelled as L. x hessei). I'd instead suggest L. x palmatiloba... based on my ligularia collection, anyway.
Do you have access to the European Garden Flora Volume 6? It has a key to species found in cultivation. However, if your friend is a collector of rare ones, then delving into the floras of Japan and China will likely be necessary.
We've already read Chinese flora (Harvard key, really excellent) - and identified the plants tentatively. Still, a second opinion would be most welcome. We stii have some doubts as to veitchiana and sibirica :) Regards, Barbara.