Sunhangia elegans
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'Sunhangia elegans' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
var. elegans
Synonyms
Hedysarum tiliifolium D. Don
Desmodium tiliifolium (D.Don) G.Don
Desmodium spicatum Rehder
Editorial Note
The fact that this taxon was treated by Bean as separate species (Desmodium tiliifolium and D. spicatum), and its wide geographical range from Afghanistan to eastern China both help to make sense of Collett’s comment below about its protean character. Bean’s two descriptions involving separate collections from Kashmir and Sichuan, at either end of this range, and are very likely to refer to horticulturally significant forms, for which reason we reproduce the text of both entries unedited.
For a brief overview of the revised taxonomy, see the genus entry for Sunhangia.
Desmodium tiliifolium (D.Don) G.Don, syn. Sunhangia elegans (DC.) H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi var. elegans
A semi-woody plant, which sends up annually from a woody root-stock a number of erect stems 2 to 4 ft high, more or less downy. Leaves trifoliolate, with a main-stalk 2 to 3 in. long. Leaflets nearly glabrous on both sides, or very downy beneath, the end one larger than the others, broadly obovate, 2 to 4 in. long, 11⁄2 to 3 in. wide; the side leaflets half to two-thirds as large, and broadly ovate. Panicles terminal, 8 to 12 in. high, the lower sections borne in the uppermost leaf-axils. Flowers 1⁄2 in. long, varying from pale lilac to dark pink, borne on a slender stalk not quite so long as itself; calyx 1⁄10 in. wide, hairy, with broad shallow teeth. Pod 2 to 3 in. long, 1⁄6 in. wide; six- to nine-jointed, with the scalloping on the upper side characteristic of the genus.
Native of the Himalaya at 9,000 ft; the specimens now at Kew were raised from seed obtained from Kashmir in 1879. It flowers from August to October, but needs a hot summer to bring out its best qualities. In cold, wet seasons the flowers do not open at all. Propagated by division of the root-stock in spring. The late Sir Henry Collett called this a ‘protean plant’; the form in cultivation is one whose leaves are not very downy.
Desmodium spicatum Rehder, syn. Sunhangia elegans (DC.) H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi var. elegans
A deciduous, laxly branched shrub up to 6 or 8 ft high; young shoots herbaceous, purplish, hairy, ribbed. Leaves trifoliolate, 3 to 6 in. long; main-stalk downy, grooved. Terminal leaflet the largest, up to 2 in. long, roundish obovate to rhomboid with a stalk up to 3⁄4 in. long; lateral leaflets shortly stalked, obliquely ovate, smaller; all bluntish or minutely pointed, dark green and with short hairs above, covered with a grey, thick, soft down beneath. Inflorescence a terminal raceme up to 6 in. long, sometimes with a branch or two at the base, the pea-like flowers in whorls of six or eight. Corolla rosy-carmine, 5⁄8 in. long, standard petal heart-shaped with incurved margins, greenish at the base. Calyx funnel-shaped at the base, 1⁄10 in. long, downy, with five ovate pointed lobes. Pod curved, 2 in. long, 3⁄16 in. wide, downy, four- to six-jointed, flattened, scalloped or crenulated on the upper side as is common to this genus. Bot. Mag., t. 8805.
Native of W. Szechwan, China; raised by Maurice de Vilmorin from Chinese seeds in 1896. By him it was sent to Kew, where it has proved quite hardy, flowering very freely in September and October provided it gets a sunny autumn. It was also found by Wilson in W. Szechwan and plants raised from his seeds are in gardens.
