Plantagenets. The Plantagenet dynasty took its name from the Planta genesta, or broom, traditionally an emblem of the counts of Anjou. Members of this dynasty ruled England from 1154 to 1399. However, in conventional historical usage, Henry II (son of Count Geoffrey of Anjou) and his sons Richard I and John are normally termed the Angevin kings, and their successors, up to Richard II, the Plantagenets. The term Plantagenet was not used until about 1450, when Richard, duke of York, called himself by it in order to emphasize his royal descent from Edward III's fifth son, Edmund of Langley.

Michael Prestwich

Plantagenet English royal dynasty (1154–1485). The name encompasses the Angevins (1154–1399) and the Houses of Lancaster and York. They descended from Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, daughter of Henry I. Richard, Duke of York and father of Edward IV, adopted the Plantagenet name during the Wars of the Roses.

Plantagenet name of the English royal dynasty which held the throne from the accession of Henry II in 1154 until the death of Richard III in 1485. The name comes from Latin planta genista ‘sprig of broom’, said to be worn as a crest by and given as a nickname to Geoffrey, count of Anjou, the father of Henry II. The name is first recorded in late Middle English, in the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, where mention is made of Geoffrey's death.