''Euonymus fortunei'', the spindle, Fortune's spindle, winter creeper or wintercreeper, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Celastraceae,

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to east Asia, including China, Korea, the Philippines and Japan. ''E. fortunei'' is highly invasive and damaging in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, causing the death of trees and forest in urban areas.

Description

It is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

which grows as a

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

if provided with support. As such it grows to , climbing by means of small rootlets on the stems, similar to

ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern ...

(an example of

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...

, as the two species are not related). Like ivy, it also has a sterile non-flowering juvenile climbing or creeping phase, which on reaching high enough into the crowns of trees to get more light, develops into an adult, flowering phase without climbing rootlets. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are arranged in opposite pairs, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, 2–6 cm long and 1–3 cm broad, with finely serrated margins. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are inconspicuous, 5 mm in diameter, with four small greenish-yellow petals. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is a smooth, dehiscent capsule with reddish

aril An aril (), also called arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode, or false aril, is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ova ...

s. ''Euonymus fortunei'' is very similar to '' Euonymus japonicus'', particularly in cultivation. In the wild, ''E. fortunei'' is climbing or procumbent whereas ''E. japonicus'' has an erect habit.

Taxonomy

The species was described in 1863 as ''Elaeodendron fortunei'' by

Nikolai Turczaninow Nikolai Stepanovich Turczaninow (; 1796 – ) was a Russian botanist and plant collector who first identified several genera and many species of plants. Education and career Born in 1796, Turczaninow attended high school in Kharkov. In 181 ...

, who named it in honour of the Scottish botanist and plant explorer Robert Fortune. The species had already been described as ''Euonymus hederaceus'' in 1851; Turczaninow's name is conserved against this earlier name. It was transferred from ''Elaeodendron'' to the genus ''

Euonymus ''Euonymus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the staff vine family Celastraceae. Common names vary widely among different species and between different English-speaking countries, but include spindle (or spindle tree), burning-bush, strawb ...

'' in 1933 by Heinrich von Handel-Mazzetti.

Varieties

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

accepted two varieties: * ''Euonymus fortunei'' var. ''fortunei'' – many synonyms including ''E. fortunei'' var. ''radicans'', ''E. radicans''; native throughout the range of the species * ''Euonymus fortunei'' var. ''villosus'' (Nakai) H.Hara – Japan

Distribution and habitat

It has an extensive native range, including many parts of China (from sea level to 3400 m elevation), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. It has also been introduced to North America as an ornamental, and is considered an invasive species throughout much of the Eastern United States. It resembles '' Euonymus japonicus'', which is also widely cultivated but is a shrub, without climbing roots. It also is related to a variety of similar species, including ''Euonymus theifolius'', or ''Euonymus vagans'' and also a number of named "species" which are found only in cultivation and better treated as cultivars. Its habitats include woodlands, scrub, and forests.

Cultivation

''Euonymus fortunei'' is widely cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

, with numerous

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s selected for such traits as yellow, variegated and slow, dwarfed growth. It is used as a

groundcover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows low over an area of ground, which protects the topsoil from erosion and drought. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as the ...

or a vine to climb walls and trees. The following cultivars have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

: * 'Emerald Gaiety' * 'Emerald 'n' Gold' * 'Emerald Surprise' * 'Kewensis' * 'Wolong Ghost' Plants propagated from mature flowering stems (formerly sometimes named "f. ''carrierei''") always grow as non-climbing

s. Some popular cultivars such as 'Moon Shadow' are shrub forms. Most of the cultivated plants belong to var. ''radicans'' (Huxley 1992). It is generally considered cold hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9, and is considered an

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

in some parts of the world, notably the eastern United States and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Gallery

File:Euonymus fortunei 1.JPG, Flowers on a mature vine File:Euonymus Fortunei Fruit.jpg, Fruit File:Winter Creeper, Euonymus fortunei, showing its orange berries.jpg, Showing its orange berries File:Euonymus fortunei a1.jpg, The variegated cultivar 'Emerald 'n' Gold' File:Celastrales - Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety' - 1.jpg, Cultivar 'Emerald Gaiety'

References

External links

* Bean, W. J. (1973) ''Trees and Shrubs hardy in the British Isles'' 8th ed., vol. 2: 150-151. John Murray. * Huxley, A., ed. (1992) ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening'' vol. 2: 242. Macmillan. * {{Taxonbar, from=Q159331 fortunei Flora of China Flora of Japan Flora of Korea Garden plants Plants described in 1851