Exploring Chrysanthemum Types: Shapes, Colors, and More!

What types of chrysanthemums are there? Chrysanthemums are perennial herbaceous plants in the Asteraceae family and Chrysanthemum genus. There are several cultivated types based on the appearance of the petals, including rounded, retreating, flipping, chaotic, exposed, and flying.

Within these types, there are a variety of named chrysanthemum varieties. So, what are the morphological features of chrysanthemums? Let’s take a look with us.

Types of Chrysanthemums

1. Classification by Blooming Season

Summer chrysanthemums: Also known as May and September chrysanthemums, blooming twice a year in May and September according to the traditional Chinese calendar. Nowadays, with protective facilities, they can bloom in May and October of the Gregorian calendar.

Autumn chrysanthemums: These have early and late blooming periods. Early autumn chrysanthemums bloom in mid to late September and are medium-sized, while late autumn chrysanthemums bloom from October to November and are larger, making them the most commonly cultivated autumn chrysanthemums.

Winter chrysanthemums: Also known as cold chrysanthemums, they bloom from December to January the following year.

2. Classification by Flower Diameter

Large chrysanthemums: The diameter of the flower is above 10 cm, and they are often used for multi-stem and specimen cultivation.

Medium chrysanthemums: The diameter of the flower is between 6 and 10 cm. These are often used for flower bed and large standing chrysanthemum cultivation.

Small chrysanthemums: The diameter of the flower is below 6 cm. They are star-shaped and suitable for pot chrysanthemums, cliff chrysanthemums, and bonsai chrysanthemums, etc., for garden decoration or display.

3. Classification by Color

Single color: Single color refers to one flower of one color, including yellow, white, purple, red, pink, green, ink, mud gold, and snow green, etc.

In addition to the basic color system, each color system can be divided into multiple shades, which can be hard to describe and accurately grasp.

Mixed color: Mixed color refers to one flower with two or more colors, with a richer color change.

There are flowers with two colors, such as red and yellow half “Er Qiao”, red and yellow two-color “Yuan Yang He”; there are flowers with the back and abdomen of two colors, such as the back is yellow and the abdomen is red “Gold Back Big Red”; there are petals with one color as the base color, with other color stripes or spots on it, such as pink purple as the base color, with white spots “Plum Deer”; there are flowers with the base of the petal as one color, and the tip as another color, such as tube petals are red, and the tips are yellow “Red Line Gold Bead”; there are flowers with the heart as one color, and the edge as another color, but the contrast is not great, such as “Chu Feng”, “Green Water”.

What are the morphological features of chrysanthemums?

Chrysanthemums are perennial herbs, 60-150 cm tall. The stem is erect, branched or unbranched, and covered with soft hair.

Leaves are alternate, with short petioles, leaf blades are ovate to lanceolate, 5-15 cm long, pinnately shallowly lobed or semi-lobed, base is cuneate, underside is covered with white short soft hair, margin has coarse serrations or deep lobes, base is cuneate, with petioles.

The head inflorescence is solitary or several clusters at the top of the stem, 2.5-20 cm in diameter, varying in size, solitary or several clusters at the top of the stem; it varies greatly depending on the variety.

The involucral bracts are multilayered, the outer layer is green, linear, the margin is membranous, and the outside is covered with soft hair; the ligulate flowers are white, red, purple, or yellow.

The flower color includes red, yellow, white, orange, purple, pink, dark red, etc., and there are many cultivated varieties. The head inflorescence is variable, with different shapes and colors. There are many types of shapes depending on the variety, including single, flat, spoon, etc.

The middle is tubular flowers, often all specialized into various ligulate flowers; blooming period is from September to November. Stamens, pistils, and fruits are often undeveloped.

Chrysanthemums are perennial sub-shrubs. The stem of the propagated seedling is divided into above-ground stem and underground stem. The above-ground stem is 0.2-2 meters high, with many branches. The young stem is tender green or brown, covered with gray soft hair or velvet.

The stem usually dies after flowering. The following spring, buds are produced from the underground stem. Chrysanthemum leaves are single alternate, petiole is 1-2 cm long, with bracts or degenerate on both sides of the petiole base, leaf is ovate to oblong, edge has notches and serrations.

The shape of the leaves varies with the variety, and can be divided into regular leaves, deeply incised regular leaves, long leaves, deeply incised long leaves, round leaves, sunflower leaves, fluffy leaves, and boat leaves, etc.

The flower (head inflorescence) of the chrysanthemum grows at the top of the branch, about 2-30 cm in diameter. The outside of the inflorescence is composed of green bracts to form a flower bud.

There are two types of flowers on the inflorescence: one is a disciform flower, commonly known as the “flower heart”, the corolla is united into disciform, is a bisexual flower, the center grows a pistil, the stigma is bifurcated, the ovary is lower 1 chamber, surrounded by the landlord 5 stamens gathered stamens; the other is a ligulate flower, growing on the edge of the inflorescence, commonly known as “flower petals”, the male stamens degenerate, 1 pistil.

Ligulate flowers are generally larger and more colorful, with five types of shapes: flat, spoon, tube, cassia, and deformity.

The achene (generally called “seed”) is 1-3 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide, slightly pointed at the top, flat wedge-shaped, with longitudinal ridges on the surface, brown, fruit contains a seed without endosperm, fruit matures in January to February the following year, 1000 seeds weigh about 1 gram.

Chrysanthemum varieties have great diversity, and taxonomists discuss the ancestors of chrysanthemums. Some believe that wild chrysanthemums are the original ancestors of chrysanthemums, some believe that chamomile is the ancestor, some believe that its ancestor is small red chrysanthemums, or a series of possible ancestor lists have been proposed.

Some Chinese scientists have also conducted intergeneric hybridization experiments, and made some speculative and experimental work in discussing the true source of chrysanthemums.

Regardless of speculation and experimentation, they are all trying to trace the origin of chrysanthemums to a certain species or two of the genus, and try to point out which variety is the most primitive among these vast varieties, that is, trying to find the most primitive chrysanthemum variety.