Celastrus rosthornianus
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Celastrus rosthornianus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
A deciduous scandent shrub up to 20 ft high, not downy in any part, young shoots very slender. Leaves shining green, oval-lanceolate to ovate, narrowly to broadly tapered at the base, pointed, finely toothed; 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, 1 to 11⁄2 in. wide; stalk about 1⁄4 in. long. Fruits the size of a small pea, three- or four-valved, orange yellow; they are borne two or three together in the leaf-axils and have stalks 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in. long; seed-coat scarlet.
Native of W. China; introduced by Wilson in 1910 (No. 4187). As seen at Kew this is recognisable by its very slender, often pendulous, branches and shining leaves. It bears large crops of its handsome fruits which, after splitting, remain on the shoots until well into the new year, showing the red-coated seeds. Trained up stout stakes it makes a pleasing graceful thicket. Pith lamellate.
var. loeseneri (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) C.Y.Wu ex Y.C.Ho
Synonyms
Celastrus loeseneri Rehder & E.H.Wilson
Editorial Note
Treated by Bean at species rank as C. loeseneri.
A deciduous climber up to 20 ft high, all the parts without down, producing long, twining young shoots. Leaves oval or broadly ovate, rounded or broadly wedge-shaped at the base, abruptly pointed; shallowly and distantly toothed; 2 to 51⁄2 in. long, 11⁄4 to 3 in. wide; dull dark green above, very pale beneath; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Flowers greenish white, small, usually produced a few together in shortly stalked axillary cymes, rarely in terminal racemes. Fruits yellow, 1⁄3 in. wide; seed-coat red. Pith lamellate.
Native of Central China; discovered and introduced by Wilson (No. 503) in 1907. This species is very hardy at Kew and one of the most vigorous in the genus; it also has some of the largest leaves. C. orbiculatus is closely akin to it, but differs in its thinner, rounder leaves – indeed, the celastrus given an Award of Merit as “C. loeseneri” when shown in 1931 by the late Sir Frederick Stern later proved to be C. orbiculatus.