Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Schisandra chinensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/schisandra/schisandra-chinensis/). Accessed 2025-05-14.

Family

Schisandraceae

Genus

Schisandra

Synonyms

Kadsura chinensis Turcz.
Schisandra japonica (Sieb. & Zucc. ex A. Gr.) Hance
Sphaerostema japonicum Sieb. & Zucc. ex A. Gr.
Maximowiczia chinensis (Turcz.) Rupr.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

berry: Fleshy indehiscent fruit with seed(s) immersed in pulp.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
spike: Inflorescence in which flowers sessile on the main axis.

References

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Schisandra chinensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/schisandra/schisandra-chinensis/). Accessed 2025-05-14.

Harvested fruit of Shisandra chinensis drying for medicinal purposes, wild collected in Tong tian Forest Park, Shaanxi, China. 29 September 2011. Image Paul W. Meyer.

A deciduous, climbing shrub, growing 20 to 30 ft high; branchlets red, round, not downy, set with wart-like lenticels. Leaves 2 to 4 in. long, obovate or elliptical, tapering at the base to a slender stalk, remotely toothed; glabrous except on the principal veins beneath when young. Flowers produced during April and May, each on a slender stalk 1 in. long, two or three of them being borne in a cluster at the base of the young growths; they are pale rose-coloured, fragrant, 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. across. After the female flowers are past, that portion bearing the carpels continues to lengthen until it is 2 to 6 in. long, and on it the berry-like, scarlet fruits are borne on a sort of pendulous spike. These remain on the plant during the winter. Male flowers with four or five stamens.

Native of China, Japan, Korea, Sakhalin and the Amur region; introduced in 1860. Although not showy in flower (the petals soon drop), its scarlet fruits are very handsome. The dried wood is charmingly fragrant.

Harvested fruit of Shisandra chinensis drying for medicinal purposes, wild collected in Tong tian Forest Park, Shaanxi, China. 29 September 2011. Image Paul W. Meyer.

The female flowers of Schisandra chinensis are white and turn slighlty reddish to the end of the flowering season. Meise Botanical Garden (number 19871790 from Japan), Belgium. 21 May 2010. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Foliage of Schisandra chinensis, here on a plant growing against a wall in the orangery garden. Meise Botanical Garden (number 19871790 from Japan), Belgium. 4 September 2010. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Fruits of Schisandra chinensis are red berries which are smooth and shiny, with a spherical shpae. Meise Botanical Garden (number 19871790 from Japan), Belgium. 12 September 2012. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

The leaves of Schisandra chinensis are simple, oval-shaped and alternate. Meise Botanical Garden (number 19871790 from Japan), Belgium. 12 September 2012. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Underside of the leave of Schisandra chinensis with red coloring petiole. Meise Botanical Garden (number 19871790 from Japan), Belgium. 12 September 2012. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Schisandra chinensis is a deciduous climbing shrub native to forests of northern China, the Russian Far East, Japan and Korea. Meise Botanical Garden (number 19871790 from Japan), Belgium. 21 October 2013. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Fruits of Schisandra chinensis grow in dense hanging clusters of 2 to 5 berries. Meise Botanical Garden (number 19871790 from Japan), Belgium. 21 October 2013. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Leaves of Schisandra chinensis with less pronounced veins and different shape than the plant of Meise. Arboretum Kalmthout, Belgium. 12 September 2009. Image Guillaume Mamdy.