Kolkwitzia amabilis

Not to be confused with the beautyberry bush, Callicarpa.

Beauty bush
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Dipsacales
Family: Caprifoliaceae
Genus: Kolkwitzia
Graebn.
Species: K. amabilis
Binomial name
Kolkwitzia amabilis
Graebn.

Kolkwitzia amabilis /kɒlˈkwɪtsi.ə əˈmæbɪlɪs/[1], known by the common name beauty bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae. It is the only species in the genus Kolkwitzia. It is a deciduous shrub grown as an ornamental plant. In China, where it originated, the plant is called wei shi shu (蝟实属).[2]

Description

Flower

The plant is an arching, spreading shrub, with light brown flaky bark and graceful arching branches, which can grow higher than eight feet tall. It is usually as wide as it is tall. The plant blooms in late spring. Its light pink flowers, dark pink in the bud, are about one-inch long and bell-shaped ("tubular campanulate"); they grow in pairs, as with all Caprifoliaceae, and form showy, numerous sprays along ripened wood. Its leaves are opposite, simple, and ovate, from .5 to 3 inches long, entire or with a few sparse shallow teeth. Its fruit is a hairy, ovoid capsule approximately .25 inches long.

Taxonomy

The species and genus were first described by Paul Graebner. The genus name honours Richard Kolkwitz, a professor of botany in Berlin.[3] The specific epithet amabilis means "lovely".[4] In 2013, it was suggested that Kolkwitzia, along with the genera Abelia, Diabelia, Dipelta and Vesalea, be merged into an expanded genus Linnaea.[5]

History

The beauty bush originates in Central China, where it has been discovered for science twice, once by the Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Giraldi in Shensi and then in western Hubei province, by E.H. 'Chinese' Wilson[6] who was collecting for Veitch Nurseries and who introduced it into horticulture.[7] Wilson sent plant material to his sponsors Veitch Nurseries in Exeter, in 1901, where the shrub flowered for the first time in 1910. It received a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 1923 for Nymans Gardens, Sussex.[8] The shrub became very popular in the eastern United States following World War I – almost a defining shrub in American gardens made between the World Wars. It is very rare and threatened in the wild.

Pruning

In the garden, the shrub needs plenty of room to develop its long, arching sprays, reducing the temptation to club it back, which results in an unnatural "witches' broom". Occasionally, older stems should be removed at the base when the shrub is dormant, to encourage young, free-flowering growth.

References

  1. ↑ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
  2. ↑ "4. KOLKWITZIA Graebner, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29: 593. 1901." (PDF). Harvard University Herbaria.
  3. ↑ Albert, Render (1917). L.H. Bailey, ed. The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. London: MacMillan & Co., Ltd. p. 1757.
  4. ↑ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. p. 224. ISBN 9781845337315.
  5. ↑ Christenhusz MJM. 2013. Twins are not alone: a recircumscription of Linnaea (Caprifoliaceae). Phytotaxa125 (1): 25–32. http://biotaxa.org/Phytotaxa/article/view/phytotaxa.125.1.4
  6. ↑ St Andrews Botanical Garden: Kolkwitzia amabilis Archived 2008-06-26 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and Their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Kolkwitzia"
  8. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Kolkwitzia amabilis". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.