Stachyurus praecox Sieb. & Zucc.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Stachyurus praecox' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/stachyurus/stachyurus-praecox/). Accessed 2024-09-19.

Genus

Stachyurus

Synonyms

S. japonicus Steud.

Infraspecifics

Other taxa in genus

Stachyurus yunnanensis

Glossary

apex: (pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
lanceolate: Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
ovate: Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.

References

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Stachyurus praecox' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/stachyurus/stachyurus-praecox/). Accessed 2024-09-19.

Stachyurus praecox at Pan Global PLants, Gloucestershire, March 2009. Image John Grimshaw.

A deciduous shrub, said to become as much as 10 ft high in Japan, but rarely more than half as high in England. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, 3 to 7 in. long, with a long slender apex, toothed at the margin. Flowers twelve to twenty together, in stiff drooping racemes 2 to 3 in. long, each flower 1⁄3 in. across, pale yellow. Bot. Mag., t. 6631.

Native of Japan, and quite hardy. Its greatest merit in the garden is its early-flowering nature. In favourable years it will be in full flower by the middle of February, and ordinarily, not more than a month later. The flower-spikes are formed in the axils of the leaves and attain their full length in autumn, and, although exposed to whatever inclemencies the winter may bring, remain unscathed. Unseasonable warmth in the early part of the year, followed by a rough cold spell, will sometimes injure the flowers. But on the whole they are very hardy, and when the reddish leafless branches are hung with yellow racemes 1 in. or less apart there are few things in the garden more pleasing at that early season.

Not dramatic, but very pleasing, the inflorescences of Stachyurus praecox are welcome in early spring (RHS Garden Wisley, March 2012). Image John Grimshaw.

'Magpie'

Seedlings come white DJH

Stachyurus praecox 'Magpie' (Windcliff, Indianola, Washington, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

Fruits of Stachyurus praecox 'Magpie' (Windcliff, Indianola, Washington, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

Stachyurus praecox 'Magpie' trained against a wall at Liss Forest Nursery, Hampshire, UK. 13 July 2023. Image Jack Aldridge.

Stachyurus praecox 'Magpie' at Arboretum Kalmthout, Belgium. 12 April 2024. Image Jack Aldridge.

var. matsuzakii (Nakai) Makino

Synonyms
S. matsuzakii Nakai
S. lancifolius Koidz.

A more robust variant of the species, with stouter branches and larger leaves and fruits, confined to maritime localities in southern Japan and the Ryukyus.S. chinensis Franch. – This Chinese species, closely allied to S. praecox, was introduced by Wilson in 1908. Although, as seen growing side by side, they appear distinct, there is really very little on which one can seize to differentiate them. In habit S. chinensis is the stronger and more vigorous, sending up strong arching shoots, varying from green to dark brown, sometimes red as in S. praecox. The leaves are relatively broader, ovate or oblong-ovate, and more abruptly acuminate; the style is about equal in length to the petals or slightly exserted, and the fruits smaller. It flowers at Kew about a fortnight later than S. praecox, and is as hardy and, if anything, more attractive.S. himalaicus Benth. – A tall straggling shrub in the wild. Leaves more slender than in S. praecox, oblong to lanceolate, 3 to 5 in. long, 1{1/2} to 2 in. wide, acuminately narrowed to a long, slender tip, very finely and densely toothed, short-stalked. Racemes 2 to 4 in. long. Flowers yellow or pinkish; style included. Of wide distribution from the Himalaya and N.E. India to central and southern China and Formosa. A rather tender species that needs the protection of a wall except in the milder parts.