Species

Euonymus japonicus

Etymology

Euonymus: One possible explanation is this genus is named after Euonyme, the mother of the Furies (vengeance deities in Greek mythology) because of the irritating properties of this plant. Another explanation is that the name is simply from the Greek eu 'good' and onoma 'name', meaning 'a name of good repute'.
japonicus: From Japan

Common Name(s)

Japanese spindleberry

Family

Celastraceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

EUOJAP

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Terrestrial.

Features

Much branched evergreen shrub or small tree up to 7m high. Twigs green, terete or slightly 4-ribbed, smooth, often wrinkled when dry, not winged. Leaves opposite, obovate to elliptic, acute, crenate, 2.5~7cm long; petiole 5~15mm long. Cymes 5, many-flowered, pedunculate, dichotomous. Buds greenish, slightly 4-angled; flowers 4-merous, 6~10mm diam.; petals green, broadly elliptic, widely separated. Capsule globose, 4-celled, pink, 6~10mm diam., exposing orange to deep red aril after opening. (- Webb et al., 1988)

Similar Taxa

Much branched evergreen shrub or small tree up to 7m high; twigs green, smooth, often wrinkled when dry; leaves opposite 2.5-7cm long; buds greenish; petals green; fruit capsule pink, 6-10mm diameter, exposes orange to deep red seed appendages after opening (Webb et al., 1988).

Flowering

November, December

Flower Colours

Green,White

Fruiting

March, April, May

Year Naturalised

1980

Origin

Japan, China, Korea

Reason For Introduction
Ornamental

Life Cycle Comments
Perennial.

Poisonous plant:
The spindle berries and orange coated seeds are poisonous.









This page last updated on 9 Dec 2010