Symplocos nokoensis
Sponsor
Kindly sponsored by
Peter Hoffmann
Credits
Owen Johnson (2024)
Recommended citation
Johnson, O. (2024), 'Symplocos nokoensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Ilex nokoensis Hayata
- Bobua crenatifolia Yamamoto
A compact shrub to 2 m tall. Twigs hairy at first. Leaves evergreen, leathery, oblong-ovate to obovate, small (10–23 × 8–12 mm), usually glabrous; margin with a few small rounded teeth; side-veins in 3–5 pairs; petiole very short (1–3 mm). Flowers carried singly or 2–3 in a fascicle 1 cm long, small (corolla 2–3 mm wide); stamens c. 20. Fruit ovoid, c. 7 × 5 mm, produced (in Taiwan) in August, its colour not apparently recorded. (Wu & Nooteboom 1996; Jeffrey & Nooteboom 1977).
Distribution Taiwan
Habitat Mixed forests at 3000–3200 m asl.
USDA Hardiness Zone 9
RHS Hardiness Rating H4
Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)
Symplocos nokoensis is grown at Tregrehan, Cornwall, UK, from material originally collected in its Taiwanese mountain homeland by the late Edward Needham and confirmed by Susyn Andrews; here, it makes a ‘tight upright bush’ (T. Hudson pers. comm.). Its diminutive stature is matched by its small leaves, suiting it potentially for smaller gardens in very mild areas. Since Symplocos are seldom self-fertile, the Tregrehan plant has not been observed to fruit.
Like many Symplocos this is an elusive species, which was first described by the Japanese botanist Bunzō Hayata in 1911 (from Mount Noko) as a species of holly (Ilex); it is unusual within its genus for its tiny flowers which can be carried singly, or in groups of no more than three. It is also a bush with an extraordinarily low online presence (to date), featuring – for whatever reason – only in the Danish Wikipedia.