Hydrangea macrophylla subsp. stylosa

Undeservedly very rarely encountered, this was found at 2400m in W. Yunnan. A deciduous shrub to 1.5m in height with relatively slim foliage, superbly tinted charcoal-purple in summer and covered in a mass of splendid, strikingly bi-coloured lacecaps in July; the central fertile flowers being a vibrant mid-blue, surrounded by frilly-edged, pure white ray florets. Pink and white in alkaline soil.