The genus was designated by the American taxonomist, A.Gray, in 1885, who named it after the US Admiral, John Rodgers, commander of the expedition in which R. podophylla was discovered in the 1850s.

Rodgersia henrici which was initially thought to be an astilbe was collected by Prince Henri d'Orleans in 1895 but this has recently been reduced to a variety of R. aesculifolia.

In older literature there is mention of R. purdomii named after William Purdom who collected in China in around 1910.

They will grow in sun under these conditions in good humus rich soil but they are susceptible to sun- and wind-scorch.

The spread of the compound leaves, especially of R. podophylla, can also be up to one metre making them architectural plants in cultivation.

The leaves of many varieties are attractive in the Spring when, grown in good light, they have a bronze or copper hue.

The seed heads are also attractive, those of many R. pinnata are claret coloured which deepens as winter progresses.

The leaflets resemble a duck's webbed foot and this is sufficient to identify R. podophylla from all the other species.

R. podophylla is often very shy at flowering, but can cover large areas by means of its spreading rhizomes.

In R. aesculifolia, Batalin (tetraploid 2n=60") the leaves are symmetrically palmate radiating from a central point most often without petioles.They are obvate with acute apices and coarsely serrated.

henrici are sunken, giving the top surface of the leaflets a quilted effect and on the underside, all the veins are prominent.

From a gardener's point of view, the general differences in the non-microscopic features of the plants are sufficiently diagnostic.

The size of the individual obovate-lanceolate leaflets ranges from 20mm long x 10mm wide to double those measurements depending on variety and growing conditions.

The individual leaflet are about 15mm long and 5mm wide with markedly serrated edges, tipped red brown in EMAK, yellow in ED.