Distylium

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Distylium' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/distylium/). Accessed 2023-12-11.

Family

Hamamelidaceae

Species in genus

Distylium racemosum

Glossary

family: A group of genera more closely related to each other than to genera in other families. Names of families are identified by the suffix ‘-aceae’ (e.g. Myrtaceae) with a few traditional exceptions (e.g. Leguminosae).

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Distylium' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/distylium/). Accessed 2023-12-11.

Distylium racemosum growing against a wall at Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, UK (16 April 2023). Image Jack Aldridge.

A genus of about eight species of evergreen trees and shrubs in China, Japan and the Indo-Malaysian region. The species described below is one of three evergreen members of the witch-hazel family cultivated in the British Isles and the most common, though all are rare. The following combinations of characters distinguish them: flowers apetalous, in slender racemes – D. racemosum; flowers apetalous, in clusters – Sycopsis sinensis flowers with white petals – Loropetalum chinense.

From the Supplement (Vol.V)

D. racemosum also occurs in south-eastern and central China, and it is probable that the plant at Kew by the Victoria Gate is of this provenance. It flowers much earlier than April-May, the usual time for plants from Japan.