''Kolkwitzia amabilis'' , commonly known as beauty bush, 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 ...

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species in 33 to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and easte ...

. It is the sole species in genus ''Kolkwitzia''. It is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

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 ...

grown 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 ...

. In China, where it originated, the plant is called ''wèi shí '' (蝟实).

Description

The plant is an arching, spreading shrub, with light brown flaky bark and graceful arching branches, which can grow higher than tall. It is usually as wide as it is tall. The plant blooms in late spring. Its light pink flowers, dark pink in the bud, are about one-inch long and bell-shaped ("tubular campanulate"); they grow in pairs, as with all Caprifoliaceae, and form showy, numerous sprays along ripened wood. Its leaves are opposite, simple, and ovate, from long, entire or with a few sparse shallow teeth. Its fruit is a hairy, ovoid capsule approximately inches long.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by

Paul Graebner Carl Otto Robert Peter Paul Graebner (29 June 1871 in Aplerbeck – 6 February 1933 in Berlin) was a German botanist. In 1895 he obtained his doctorate in Berlin, successively working as an assistant and then as curator (1904) at the botanical ga ...

and placed in the new genus ''Kolkwitzia'', whose name honours

Richard Kolkwitz Richard Kolkwitz (March 23, 1873 – April 16, 1956) was a German botanist who was a native of Berlin. He studied natural sciences at the University of Berlin under Adolf Engler (1844–1930) and Simon Schwendener (1829–1919), and from 1895 to ...

, a professor of botany in Berlin. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''amabilis'' means "lovely".

History

The beauty bush originates in Central China, where it has been discovered for western science twice; once by the Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Giraldi in

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

, and then in western

Hubei province Hubei is a province in Central China. It has the seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland provinces. Its provincial capital at Wuhan serves as a major politi ...

by the British explorer and plant collector E.H. Wilson. Wilson sent plant material to his sponsors Veitch Nurseries in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

in 1901, where the shrub flowered for the first time in 1910. The shrub became very popular in the eastern United States following World War I – almost a defining shrub in American gardens made between the World Wars. It is very rare and threatened in the wild.

Cultivation

Numerous cultivars have been developed for garden use. The cultivar 'Pink Cloud' has 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 ...

Pruning

Opinions differ concerning how much pruning the shrub needs. The University of Missouri Horticulture Department suggests minimal intervention, so long as the plant has enough room to develop, up to a maximum height of and a potential "spread" of . Others suggest more active intervention to encourage development of new flowering branches and buds, with decisive pruning immediately after flowering.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q9017870, from2=Q1779255 Caprifoliaceae Caprifoliaceae genera Endemic flora of China Flora of North-Central China Flora of South-Central China Flora of Southeast China Flora of Inner Mongolia Monotypic asterid genera Plants described in 1901 Taxa named by Paul Graebner