Hydrangea macrophylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae, native and endemic to Japan. It is a deciduous shrub growing to 3 m (10 ft) tall by 2.5 m (8 ft) or more broad with large heads of pink or blue flowers in summer and autumn. It is currently treated as monotypic, with no subspecies or varieties. Common names include bigleaf hydrangea, and, for particular cultivar groups, the names lacecap hydrangea, mophead hydrangea, and hortensia. It is widely cultivated in many parts of the world in many climates. It is not to be confused with H. aspera 'Macrophylla'.
Hydrangea macrophylla is endemic to Japan, where it occurs in coastal habitats from Honshu southwards. Natural wild plants, formerly sometimes distinguished as H. macrophylla var. normalis E.H.Wilson, have "lacecap" structure flowerheads, with a few large sterile showy bract-like flowers that act as targets for pollinators, surrounding a central cluster of small fertile flowers. A closely related hydrangea from the mountains of the interior of Japan, Hydrangea serrata, was treated as a variety of H. macrophylla by some authors in the past, but is currently treated as a separate species.
The species is naturalised in China, Korea, Siberia, New Zealand and the Americas, and has become an invasive species in the Azores and Madeira archipelagos.
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