Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Ping
I'm still here. Beautiful fall weather has descended and I just don't feel like sitting in front of the computer. I haven't even done much photography lately; I'm content to just enjoy being outdoors before it gets too cold. And the vegetable garden is still producing. I've been drying peppers, freezing peppers, eating peppers, and making hot sauce. I like peppers. Here's a photo I did to accompany some given to my in-laws. 
I asked the spouse if he could ID them for his family and he said no, hence the photo guide. 'Bulgarian Carrot' was new to me this year, but has become a favorite. Thick walls, hot, and early. A real winner.
Here's something I never saw before - a walking stick (insect).
I think the correct ID is Northern Walking Stick (Diapheromera femorata), but let me know if I'm wrong. Ordinarily, they should be in the woods eating oak leaves, so I'm not sure what attracted it to our front door.
Leaves are starting to drop and the deer are munching their way through the woods. You see things that were hidden before. These Euonymus americanus fruits for example. 
E. americanus is apparently a deer favorite because we have many many wild plants of it in the woods and almost all of them get chewed off as soon as they attain any size. They overlooked enough of this one to let it produce a few fruit capsules.
I wish I knew more about mushrooms. We get a progression of them spring through fall. I keep thinking that I'm ignoring free delicious food through my ignorance at identification, but fear of making a mistake has kept me from sampling any. I need an expert to come here and guide me. 
These were huge and obvious and the only ones of their kind I saw as I meadered through the woods yesterday. I have no idea what they are...
Labels: chiles, euonymus, insects, mushrooms, peppers
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Enormous Euonymus
Did you know there are species of Euonymus that grow up to be big trees? I didn't.
I'm kinda sorta on vacation and while visiting the campus of the University of Chicago on Sunday, a Winterberry tree was pointed out to me and it was this great huge Euonymus. Excuse the crummy cell phone photos, but at least you can tell it's a tree.
It's Euonymus bungeana, native to northern China and named for Alexander Georg von Bunge. Most of the online references I found claimed that Euonymus bungeana is a shrub or small tree. Well, I suppose that's true of all large trees at some point in their lives. They just didn't give this one enough time before they wrote the reference books. If you want to go see it in person, here's where it lives.
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Labels: euonymus
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
