The Giant Leopard Plant will grow in sun or shade, but seems to do its best in part or bright full shade and requires it in hotter inland locations unless ample water is provided. Water regularly - in our shade garden the Ligularia are our "irrigation indicators" as they dry out and wilt before anything else. We need to water our well-established clumps every 2 to 3 weeks. This plant will survive temperatures down to about 0 degrees F. with the foliage dying completely back much below 20 degrees F. A great plant in the garden or in a container for lending a tropical look to any garden.

Farfugium japonicum is native to moist meadows, stream banks and coastal areas in Japan and eastern Asia and the variety giganteum comes from near the town of Kushimoto, the southernmost point of Japan's main island, Honshu and on the surrounding islands of Kyushu, Shikok and the Ryukyu Islands. For many years we sold this plant incorrectly as a cultivar of Ligularia tussilaginea 'Gigantea' but the correct name is Farfugium japonicum var. giganteum.

The changing of the name of this plant is an interesting story. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), often called "the father of modern taxonomy", described this plant as Tussilago japonica in 1767 with the genus name coming from the Greek words 'Tussis' meaning "to cough" and "ago", meaning "to act upon' in the belief that the plant was related to the European Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, but prior to this Pliny the Elder had written about the plant using the name Farfugium. When the plant was later rediscovered by the Scottish botanist Robert Fortune in 1855, it was described it as Ligularia tussilaginea by the Russian physician and botanist, Emil Bretschneider with the name coming from the Latin words 'ligula' meaning "strap" in reference to the narrow, strap like petals. The English botanist John Lindley determined that Pliny the elder's name took precedence and in 1857 reestablished that Farfugium was the correct name but it took until 1939 before the name Farfugium japonicum was applied to this Asian plant by the Japanese botanist Siro Kitamura and the split from other plants that have remained in the genus Ligularia has been verified through subsequent observed DNA differences.

We have grown this plant since 2004 and previously listed it as the cultivar 'Gigantea' until finding out that it was a naturally occurring variety. It is also not clear whether this plant is different from Farfugium reniforme (Cremanthodium reniforme). Common names for both plants are Giant Leopard Plant and Tractor Seat Plant. 

The information displayed on this page about Farfugium japonicum var. giganteum is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.