Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Sorting Out Euonymus
A discussion has been going on at various blogs, and in the comments, about North American native Euonymus. I thought it might be a good idea to pull the information together here where it's more visible. Ki and Layanee posted recently about Euonymus americanus, and we began a dialog about the various North American Euonymus species and how to distinguish them.
Several years ago, while walking on the Big Rocky Run trail, I saw a Euonymus americanus with its exotic bright red fruit capsules. I had walked by the same plant all spring and summer and never noticed it at all, but I could hardly fail to notice it when the fruit capsules ripened. I had to have it for my garden after seeing the fruit, so I ordered one from Niche Gardens. This is the first year I've gotten a good display of the fruit capsules, and I think this is the third year since I planted it.
As it turns out, all the native Euonymus have attractive fruit. (And several non-native ones, but I'll get to that in a minute.) There are apparently 4 native species - E. americanus, E. atropurpureus, E. obovatus, and E. occidentalis. The last one is native to the West Coast states; I'm going to concentrate on the East Coast species here.
Euonymus americanus is a sparse, rangy shrub of moist woodlands. The leaves are opposite, as are all Euonymus, and the stems are green when the plant is young, but may become fissured with age. The spring flowers are greenish-white. The fruit capsule is 5-parted and the outer covering has a prickly appearance. The capsule splits open to reveal 5 orange-red berry-like structures known as arils.
Euonymus atropurpureus is a taller, more attractive shrub than E. americanus. The spring flowers are dark dusky purple. The fruit capsule is 4-parted and the outer covering is smooth, with 4 red arils.
Euonymus obovatus is similar to E. americanus, but is a low-growing, spreading shrub, and not as common. There appears to be confusion over the identity of this species, as this account says that the fruit is commonly a 3-parted capsule, while the photos in the previous link show a flower that is clearly 5-parted.
Further complicating matters, a non-native species has escaped cultivation in the Northeastern states. Euonymus europaeus looks very much like E. atropurpureus (at least the fruit capsules do), and is naturalized in many of the same places were E. atropurpureus occurs. There are many named cultivars of E. europaeus - 'Red Cascade' is one of the most popular - but seemingly few available here in the US.
As long as we're talking about Euonymus, I have to mention Kate's beautiful Turkestan Burning Bush. Go see it if you haven't already.
And for a look at a truly impressive collection of Euonymus, check out the web page of this collector in the Netherlands.
The fruits of E. atropurpureus and E. europaeus remind me of bittersweet, which is a member of the same family - Celastraceae.
Until I learned of E. americanus, I was only aware of E. fortunei and E. alatus, both of which are known primarily for their foliage, not their fruit. E. alatus has been getting all kinds of bad press for being a non-native thug. I've seen it growing wild in the woods around here so maybe the reputation is deserved. I still think it's pretty.
I hope this has shed some light on the various species in the genus Euonymus, especially those native to Eastern North America. Please let me know if I've overlooked something or gotten it wrong.
Labels: euonymus, native plants
11 Comments:
Excellent post Entangled and very informative. Love the pics of the fruits, how very red and shiny they are. It's good to know that there is a specialist nursery in my country for Euonymus. ;-)
Great, informative post on native Euonymus. I've looked at several photos of E. artropupureus and it seems the fruit capsules are bunched as in the Layanee's photos rather than single fruit hanging spaced along the branch as in E. Americanus.
Very interesting information about the how many parts the seed/fruit capsule splits.
Besides Niche Gardens and Shooting Star Nursery, I found two other mail order nurseries:
Sunlight Gardens in Tennessee $10.00 E. Americanus
Nature Hills Nursery in Nebraska
7.96 E. Americanus.
Haven't found a source for E. artropupureus yet so I guess I'll have to wait when Shooting Star has them for sale again.
I find it interesting that many nurseries and other websites list E. americanus as E. americana.
I would dig out our thuggish burning bush but it is quite an effective windbreak, sheltering some less hardy plants on a north exposure.
I enjoyed your post and went off looking at the different Euonymus. I discovered that there are others besides the Turkestan Burning Bush that I can grow here. I don't think they are all that common though. I love the fruit capsules on the americanus - they are more textured and seem a lot bigger than the ones on my burning bush.
Yolanda Elizabet: I imagine the Netherlands as one huge garden - a land of talented horticulturists.
Ki: I typed a longish reply and just now lost it when I mistakenly clicked the back button. I'll retype a bit later unless I decide to throw the computer out the window.
Kate: I admired the foliage on the Turkestan Burning Bush too - most of the other Euonymus species seem to have boring leaf-shaped leaves. I wonder if it would sulk in our summer heat?
Ki: OK, I'm back now with computer still intact. What I remember typing was this:
That's another good diagnostic - the fruit clusters on E. atropurpureus vs. the single fruit on E. americanus.
Woodlanders is another source for E. americanus. I was happy with my order from them this spring - the plants are small, but reasonably priced. They only ship during fall through late winter/early spring.
I don't know why E. atropurpureus isn't more widely available in the trade. It appears to be a a good choice for a woodland garden.
I decided to check Forestfarm and discovered more Euonymus there than any other online nursery I've seen so far. They have E. atropurpureus, E. obovatus, the Turkestan Burning Bush (E. nanus turkestanicus, I think), and many others. Their photo of E. obovatus shows a 3-parted flower, so now I think that the photo on the Duke U. site I linked to is not the correct plant. Forestfarm has an incredible variety of plants for sale, but their shipping charges to the East Coast are breathtaking and I've only ordered from them once.
Shooting Star Nursery was mentioned in yesterday's NY Times Gardening Q&A column as a source for Rosebay Rhododendron. I'd never heard of that nursery before, and now it's turned up twice this week.
I just got my order from Shooting Star Nursery this evening. It came in a Budweiser beer box but everything was wrapped very well with shredded paper around the plants which were then wrapped in brown heavy weight paper and packed again with shredded paper. All of the plants arrived in good condition and though the plants were fairly small the pots were bigger than I expected. The Euonymus came in the largest pot I think a 6x6" which is huge for mail order and the plant is kinda scraggly but I think that's what it should look like. Anyway I'll do a post with photos of the plants I received. I am happy with my purchase and will order the E. artropupureus and orchids as soon as they become available in spring.
I ordered once from ForestFarm but the shipping cost to the East Coast was the deal breaker. I think I still have a $15 credit with them because my plant died but I probably won't order anything else because of the exorbitant shipping cost. They do have a wonderful selection though. Another good source for unusual plants is Greer Gardens also in the Northwest with similar shipping charges.
Entangled: Thanks for that very informative post on the Euonymous. I have added a note to my post concerning the identification discrepancy and it does seem that it is probably Euonymous atropurpureus rather than americanus. The seed capsule is definitely smooth but the shrub is within the height of the americanus. Also, this is an isolated stand on a back road so it is probably not the europeus. I will be looking for the flowers next year to see if they are the dark purple rather than white. Again, thanks for that clarification and I will be adding your link to my sidebar! Good job!
Ki: Good to know that your order from Shooting Star was to your satisfaction. Scraggly is a pretty good description of E. americanus. I think it's because the leaves are spaced so far apart that it looks that way. Maybe pruning would help, but I've never pruned mine.
Layanee: I felt a little uncomfortable writing anything about your post, but I was fairly sure the shrub wasn't E. americanus. Anyhow, glad you're not upset with me. I'll be adding you to my blogroll too - I should have done it long ago. There are just too many good blogs these days - I can't keep up.
Entangled, my apologies for taking so long to come visit following your visit to my blog on Blog Action Day (or thereabouts). What a wonderful rich source of information you have here, well written and entertaining as well as knowledgeable. I'll add your blog immediately to my ever-growing list, and be back to visit regularly! (what WOULD we do without newsfeeds to let us know who's updating when?)
No Euonymus grows in my garden here, but I really enjoy listening to you guys all chatting in botanical latin to each other ;-]
Entangled, I followed your links and think that the short tree growing along along a wire fence in Illinois was the E. europaeus... everything along that fence was bird planted! It had a three part capsule and someone once called it a Spindle Tree.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Jodi: Thanks for stopping by. I absolutely agree about news feeds - I couldn't possibly keep up to date without them.
Annie: Maybe if I wait long enough, the birds will plant something interesting here ;-)
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