Farfugium japonicum 'Escargot'

Large sized Farfugium with different leaves. "Escargot" means snail in French. In this cultivar of Farfugium leaf margins are a bit "squared" and leaf lobes do overlap, forming a spiral reminiscent of a snail. The whole leaf looks like a snail... with some good fantasy. Some experts believe that 'Escargot' is a hybrid between Farfugium 'Giganteum' and Farfugium 'Aureomaculatum'.

This species is native to coastal Japan. The large leaves are very ornamental and the tall, yellow, daisy-like flowers are a nice addition. Farfugium grows well in many different conditions, ranging from temperate to subtropical climates. It stands frost to about -14 Cm but it still grows well here in Tenerife, where we seldom go below +14 C !  It was formerly classified in a different plant genus and it was named Ligular