Chimonanthus

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Chimonanthus
Chimonanthus praecox flower
Chimonanthus praecox flower
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Laurales
Family: Calycanthaceae
Genus: Chimonanthus
Lindl. (1819)
Type species
Chimonanthus praecox
Species

Chimonanthus nitens Oliv.
Chimonanthus praecox (Linn.) Link
Chimonanthus salicifolius Hu
See text.
Synonyms

Meratia Loiseleur-Deslongchamps
Sources: ING,[1] IPNI,[2] CPN[3]

Chimonanthus (wintersweet) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Calycanthaceae, endemic to China. The genus includes three to six species depending on taxonomic interpretation; three are accepted by the Draft Flora of China. The name means winter flower in Greek.

Contents

[edit] Description

They are deciduous or evergreen shrubs growing to 2–13 m tall. The leaves are opposite, entire, 7–20cm long and 3–7 cm broad. The flowers are 2–3 cm wide, with numerous spirally-arranged yellow or white tepals; they are strongly scented, and produced in late winter or early spring before the new leaves. The fruit is an elliptic dry capsule 3–4 cm long.

[edit] Species

  • Chimonanthus caespitosus T.B. Chao
  • Chimonanthus campanulatus R.H. Chang & C.S. Ding
  • Chimonanthus grammatus M.C. Liu
  • Chimonanthus nitens Oliv.
    • Chimonanthus campanulatus R.H. Chang & C.S. Ding
    • Chimonanthus zhejiangensis M.C. Liu
  • Chimonanthus praecox (L.) Link
    • Chimonanthus fragrans Lindl.
    • Chimonanthus parviflorus Raf.
    • Chimonanthus yunnanensis W.W. Sm.
  • Chimonanthus salicifolius S.Y. Hu

Source: MBG[4]

[edit] Cultivation and uses

Leaves of the Chimonanthus praecox
Leaves of the Chimonanthus praecox

Chimonanthus praecox is widely grown as an ornamental plant for its spicily scented winter flowers; these are also used in floristry as cut flowering branches, which can also be forced as with forsythia. The plant prefers medium exposure to sunlight or partial shadow, fresh climate, and soft, acidic permeable ground.

At the end of its flowering, since it flowers most freely on ripened young wood and has little summer and autumn interest, it is thinned by pruning, partly headed back and a few thick old stems removed at the ground,.

Chimonanthus are frequently subject to attacks from aphids, and may be attacked by mites and leaf beetles.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chimonanthus (HTML). Index Nominum Genericorum. International Association for Plant Taxonomy. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
  2. ^ International Organization for Plant Information (IOPI). Plant Name Search Results (HTML). International Plant Names Index. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
  3. ^ Chinese Plant Names (HTML). Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
  4. ^ Chimonanthus Lindl. (HTML). Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.

[edit] External links