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Pileostegia viburnoides
The cap-flower vine, Pileostegia viburnoides (Hydrangeaceae), is an attractive, but poorly known liana native to China, Taiwan and India.
Its glossy, evergreen leaves and foamy panicles of creamy white flowers in summer suggest it should be grown more widely. Like its close relatives Schizophragma and the climbing hydrangeas, Pileostegia produces aerial rootlets along its stems, allowing it to grip tree trunks and other vertical surfaces. The name derives from pileo: a cap, and stegia: a covering, a reference to the tiny cap-shaped calyptra (formed by the fused petal tips), which is shed intact before the flower is ripe.
