Euonymus fortunei

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Euonymus fortunei
Euonymus fortunei 5422029.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Celastrales
Family: Celastraceae
Genus: Euonymus
Species:
E. fortunei
Binomial name
Euonymus fortunei
Synonyms [1]
  • Cassine fortunei(Turcz.) Kuntze
  • Elaeodendron fortuneiTurcz., nom. cons.

Euonymus fortunei, the spindle, Fortune's spindle, winter creeper or wintercreeper, is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae, native to east Asia, including China, Korea, the Philippines and Japan. [2] E. fortunei is highly invasive and damaging in the United States, causing the death of trees and forest in urban areas. [3]

Contents

Description

It is an evergreen shrub which grows as a vine if provided with support. As such it grows to 20 m (66 ft), climbing by means of small rootlets on the stems, similar to ivy (an example of convergent evolution, 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 are arranged in opposite pairs, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, 2–6 cm long and 1–3 cm broad, with finely serrated margins. The flowers are inconspicuous, 5 mm in diameter, with four small greenish-yellow petals. The fruit is a smooth, dehiscent capsule with reddish arils. [4]

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. [5]

Taxonomy

The species was described in 1863 as Elaeodendron fortunei by Nikolai Turczaninow, [6] who named it in honour of the Scottish botanist and plant explorer Robert Fortune. [7] The species had already been described as Euonymus hederaceus in 1851; Turczaninow's name is conserved against this earlier name. [8] [2] It was transferred from Elaeodendron to the genus Euonymus in 1933 by Heinrich von Handel-Mazzetti. [6] [9]

Varieties

As of August 2024, Plants of the World Online accepted two varieties: [1]

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. [2] It has also been introduced to North America as an ornamental, and is considered an invasive species throughout much of the Eastern United States. [12] [13] It resembles Euonymus japonicus , which is also widely cultivated but is a shrub, without climbing roots. [14] 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. [2] Its habitats include woodlands, scrub, and forests. [2]

Cultivation

Euonymus fortunei is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant, with numerous cultivars selected for such traits as yellow, variegated and slow, dwarfed growth. It is used as a groundcover or a vine to climb walls and trees. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: [15]

Plants propagated from mature flowering stems (formerly sometimes named "f. carrierei") always grow as non-climbing shrubs. 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 in some parts of the world, notably the eastern United States [21] [22] and Canada. [23]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Abelia chinensis</i> Species of plant in the family Caprifoliaceae

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<i>Syringa pubescens</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Oleaceae

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<i>Hosta sieboldiana</i> Species of plant in the genus Hosta

Hosta sieboldiana, Siebold's plantain lily, is a species of hosta native to Japan. A putative variety, Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, as has a putative variety of its synonym; Hosta fortunei var. aureomarginata, the gold-edged plantain lily. The cultivars 'Blue Angel', 'Blue Mammoth', and 'Olive Bailey Langdon' have also gained the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

<i>Euonymus sachalinensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Euonymus sachalinensis, the flat-stalked spindle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae, native to Japan, China, Korea, and the Island of Sakhalin. Growing to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) tall and broad, it is a deciduous shrub notable for its leaves turning red in autumn, and its red fruit which splits open to reveal orange seeds. Exceptional specimens, such as the one in the Hørsholm Arboretum, Copenhagen University, can become trees up to 4 m (13 ft) in height.

References

  1. 1 2 "Euonymus fortunei (Turcz.) Hand.-Mazz." Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Euonymus fortunei (Turczaninow) Handel-Mazzetti". Flora of China. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  3. ↑ "You Should Be Concerned When This Plant Goes Vertical". Missouri invade plants task force. August 15, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  4. ↑ Zouhar, Kris (2009). "Euonymus fortunei. In: Fire Effects Information System". U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  5. ↑ Ma, Jin-shuang & Funston, Michele. "Euonymus japonicus". In Wu, Zhengyi; Raven, Peter H. & Hong, Deyuan (eds.). Flora of China (online). eFloras.org. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  6. 1 2 "Euonymus fortunei". Australian Plant Name Index, IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 2023-09-29.
  7. ↑ Turczaninow, P.K.N.S. (1863). "Eleodendron Fortunei". Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou. 36 (1): 602.
  8. ↑ "Elaeodendron fortunei Turcz." International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens . Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  9. ↑ Handel-Mazzetti, H. (1933). Symbolae Sinicae, Botanische Ergebnisse der Expedition der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien nach Sudwest-China 1914/1918. Vol. 7. p. 660.
  10. ↑ "Euonymus fortunei var. fortunei". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  11. ↑ "Euonymus fortunei var. villosus (Nakai) H.Hara". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  12. ↑ "Winter Creeper | University of Maryland Extension". extension.umd.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  13. ↑ "Wintercreeper Control". Missouri Department of Conservation. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  14. ↑ "Euonymus japonicus Thunberg". Flora of China.
  15. ↑ "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 37. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  16. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety'" . Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  17. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald 'n' Gold'" . Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  18. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Surprise'" . Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  19. ↑ "Euonymus fortunei 'Kewensis'". RHS. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  20. ↑ "Euonymus fortunei 'Wolong Ghost'". RHS. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  21. ↑ "Profile for Euonymus fortunei (Turcz.) Hand.-Maz. var. radicans (Siebold ex Miq.) Rehder (winter creeper)". PLANTS Database. USDA, NRCS . Retrieved May 28, 2011.
  22. ↑ Swearingen, J.; K. Reshetiloff; B. Slattery & S. Zwicker (2002). "Creeping Euonymus". Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
  23. ↑ Kaufman, S. (2014). "Euonymus fortunei (wintercreeper)". Invasive Species Compendium . CABI Compendium. Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International: 23204. doi:10.1079/cabicompendium.23204.
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