Celtis bungeana
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Celtis bungeana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Celtis davidiana Carrière
Infraspecifics
A tree 30 to 45 ft high, forming a rounded, bushy head; young shoots slightly downy at first, becoming glabrous by autumn. Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2 to 31⁄2 in. long, 1 to 13⁄4 in. wide; rounded, unequal sided, and three-nerved at the base; taper-pointed, with a few remote teeth towards the apex only, sometimes almost entire; dark glossy green and glabrous above, paler and glossy beneath, with small tufts of down in the lower vein-axils; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 in. long, slightly downy. Fruits egg-shaped, black, on slender stalks 3⁄4 in. long.
Native of N. China in mountainous regions; also found by Henry in the mountains of Hupeh. It was introduced to Kew in 1882, by means of seed sent by Dr Bretschneider, and collected on the hills north of Peking. It is extremely rare in cultivation, but is a notable and handsome species, very distinct in its lustrous, almost glabrous leaves. (See also C. glabrata.)
C. sinensis Pers., is similar in the hard texture and very glossy upper surface of its leaves to C. bungeana, but its young shoots are clothed with minute hairs and the obliquely ovate leaves are conspicuously toothed towards the apex. The two are closely akin. A native of China and Japan, introduced in 1910. A specimen at Kew, planted in 1923, now measures 35 × 41⁄4 ft (1967; 36 × 4 ft at 4 ft in 1981).
