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Leucothoe griffithiana
Credits
Martin Deasy
Recommended citation
'Leucothoe griffithiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Jan-ji-mu-li-lu
Synonyms
- Leucothoe tonkinensis Dop
- Pieris cavaleriei H.Lév. & Vaniot
- Pieris griffithiana Hook.f. ex C.B.Clarke
Stout shrubs to 3m with glabrous, often pliable twigs. Leaves leathery, elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 9–16 × 2.6–6 cm, glabrous above, sometimes with scattered short hairs beneath, base broadly cuneate, entire or minately upwards-serrate, apex acuminate to caudate. Inflorescence an axillary or (rarely) pseudo-terminal raceme 4–6 cm with short, broadly ovate bracts, c. 2 mm, 6–30 flowers; pedicel 3–6 mm; calyx lobes triangular-ovate, c. 1.5 mm. Corolla white, ± tubular, 6–7 mm; lobes triangular-ovate, c. 1 mm. Fruit a 5-valved capsule, loculicidal, 4–6 mm in diameter; seeds flattened, winged, elliptic to suborbicular. Flowers in spring (April-May in the wild), fruits June–October. Fang & Stevens 2005, Brandis 1906, Panda 2007, Judd et al. 2013
Distribution Bhutan Myanmar China Guizhou, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan India Eastern Himalaya (Arunachal Pradesh) Laos Vietnam
Habitat Occasional in forests 1000–2500(–3400) m, rarely in rock crevices, waterfalls
USDA Hardiness Zone 9
Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)
Distinguished by its long leaves and pendent, nodding twigs, this species was first introduced to cultivation by Frank Kingdon Ward (Ward 9302) from collections made in northern Burma in 1931 (Kingdon Ward 1938), though it is not known how much (if any) of this material survives. It had previously been collected in Yunnan by both George Forrest in 1917 (15944), as it was by Joseph Rock a few years later (11520, 22036, 22497) (RBGE 1930, Rehder 1937). A plant deriving from natural-source Vietamese material is grown at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh under the name L. tonkinensis (Acc. 20150471), this name having been placed in synonymy with L. griffithiana by Judd et al. (2013): the two taxa had previously been separated on minor leaf characters, specifically degree of serration and shape of leaf-base (e.g. Fang & Stevens 2005).
L. griffithiana is closely related to the Japanese L. keiskei, from which it differs in its conspicuously winged seeds and more populous racemes of smaller flowers (Judd et al. 2013). A useful illustration is given in Panda (2007), but the plant – under any of its synonyms – remains little known and is rarely encountered in cultivation. As with other Leucothoe, a retentive but freely draining organic, ideally peaty acidic soil is indicated, approximating the species’ natural environment on the floor of Abies-dominated forests and in detritus-filled pockets or ledges on damp rock-faces (Judd et al. 2013).
In view of the resemblance between Leucothoe and certain Gaultheria species (in the absence of the unmistakeable fruits), it is worth keeping in mind that Gaultheria griffithiana Wight is remarkably reminiscent of L. griffithiana in overall appearance, and has a very similar distribution (Airy-Shaw 1940); this, and the coincidence of epithets, creates the potential for confusion.