Fatshedera Genus

× Fatshedera is a monotypic hybrid genus in the family Araliaceae, containing a single species, × Fatshedera lizei, commonly known as tree ivy or aralia ivy. The × symbol before the name signals its origin as an inter-generic hybrid — a deliberate cross between plants belonging to two separate genera: Fatsia japonica (Japanese fatsia) and Hedera helix (common ivy).

The plant was raised in 1912 at the Lizé Frères nursery in Nantes, France, by crossing Fatsia japonica ‘Moserii’ as the seed parent with Hedera helix as the pollen parent. It was first formally described by Pierre Charles Marie Cochet in 1912 as Aralia × lizei, then transferred to its own hybrid genus by André Guillaumin in 1923 under the name × Fatshedera lizei (Cochet) Guillaumin.

Morphologically, × Fatshedera lizei blends traits from both parents: it has the open, shrubby habit of Fatsia combined with the deeply five-lobed, glossy leaves characteristic of Hedera. As a free-standing shrub it typically reaches about 1.2 m before the relatively weak branches begin to bend under their own weight. When tied to a support it can be trained as a vine reaching 3–4 m, though — unlike true ivy — it does not self-cling. Leaves are 7–25 cm long and wide, on petioles of 5–20 cm. Small yellowish-white flowers, 4–6 mm across, appear in late autumn or early winter, clustered in dense umbels; they are generally sterile and set no fruit. Several cultivars have been selected offering dark green or variously white- and yellow-variegated foliage. × Fatshedera lizei and the cultivars ‘Annemieke’ and ‘Variegata’ have received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.