Sabia latifolia Rehd. & Wils.

A deciduous scandent shrub up to 10 ft high; young shoots soon glabrous, yellowish green or purplish. Leaves alternate, oval, oval-oblong or slightly obovate, base rounded to tapered, often abruptly pointed, toothless, 11⁄4 to 51⁄2 in. long, 3⁄4 to 3 in. wide, at first furnished with short hairs on both surfaces, eventually becoming glabrous except on the midrib and veins beneath; stalk 1⁄4 to 5⁄8 in. long, hairy. Flowers borne during May usually three together in axillary cymes 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long, the stalks downy. Each flower is 1⁄4 in. wide, somewhat globose through the incurving of the five oval petals which are greenish yellow at first, changing to reddish brown, and edged with minute hairs. Sepals five, minute, roundish ovate, minutely ciliate; stamens rather longer than the petals. Fruits bright blue, consisting of two compressed, kidney-shaped parts attached to a slender stalk 3⁄4 to 1 in. long; each part of the fruit is 1⁄3 in. long. Bot, Mag., t. 8859.

Native of W. China; discovered by Pratt about 1888; introduced by Wilson in 1908. It was cultivated by Miss Willmott at Warley Place, Essex, where it became 10 ft high growing against a north wall. Here it flowered and ripened fruit in 1919. It is very rare.