Hydrangea (; common names
hydrangea or
hortensia) is a
genus of 70–75 species of
flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea, the Himalayas, and Indonesia) and the Americas. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Japan, and Korea. Most are
shrubs 1 to 3 meters tall, but some are small
trees, and others
lianas reaching up to by climbing up trees. They can be either
deciduous or
evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.