Patrinia villosa is a hairy perennial from East Asia that bears broad, flat-topped clusters of tiny white flowers. It is not native to the US, where it is mostly grown as a garden plant. It is a close cousin of the yellow-flowered eastern valerian (Patrinia scabiosifolia) and is sometimes called white patrinia.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Stems and leaves are covered in short white hairs.
- Growth form
- A perennial about 2–3 ft (60–100 cm) tall, sometimes up to 5 ft (1.5 m), that spreads by creeping stems at its base.
- Flowers
- Tiny white flowers, about 1/6 in (4 mm) across, open in broad, flat-topped clusters at the tips of the stems.
- Flowering time
- Late summer to fall in its native range.
- Fruit
- The small seed sits on a round, papery wing that is much larger than in eastern valerian.
Look-alikes
Eastern valerianPatrinia scabiosifolia
Eastern valerian has bright yellow flowers; Patrinia villosa has white flowers, is much hairier, and its seeds have a larger round wing.
Why they get mixed upThey are close relatives with the same tall stems and flat-topped flower clusters, and the two can hybridize in Japan.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Sunny grasslands
- Forest edges
- Roadsides
- Range
- Native to Japan, Korea, China, and eastern Siberia. In the US it is grown as a garden plant. The first wild plants recorded anywhere in the US or Canada were found in September 2024 in North Carolina: a single population at the edge of a man-made lake in a Raleigh nature preserve.
- Preferred conditions
- In its native range it grows in sunny grassy places and woodland edges, and often along roadsides and other disturbed ground.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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