Epimedium ×versicolor (bicolor barrenwort)

Japanese name: エピメディウム ウェルシコロル
Scientific name: Epimedium ×versicolor

[Overview]
A perennial 20–30 cm tall, a hybrid between Ikari-so and Epimedium pinnatum subsp. colchicum.
The leaves are 1–3 times ternately compound, with 5–15 leaflets.
The leaflets are ovate, 5–9 cm long, with a heart-shaped base.
The leaf margins have spiny hairs.
The young leaves are coppery red to brown, with the veins showing green.
A raceme at the tip of the stem bears 4-petaled flowers 0.6–2 cm across.
There are 8 sepals; the inner 4 are large and petal-like, and the outer 4 are small and fall early.
The base of each petal has a spur.
The flowers are yellow in both petals and sepals, or the petals are yellow and the sepals tinged with pink.
The fruit is a follicle.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division.
From winter through the flowering season, keep it in a sunny place, and in summer in a cool place with bright shade.
Also protect it from cold winter winds.
For planting in the ground, under deciduous trees is good.
It prefers well-drained, fertile soil.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient unless summer brings a long spell of sunny weather and the soil becomes severely dry.
Fertilizer is not particularly needed if base fertilizer is applied, but for potted plants diluted liquid fertilizer may be given in spring and autumn.
There are no particular pests or diseases.

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