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Abelia chinensis R. Br.

Modern name

Abelia chinensis R.Br.

Synonyms

A. rupestris Lindl.

A deciduous shrub 3 to 5 ft high, of spreading habit, the young branches covered with minute reddish down. Leaves ovate, pointed, tapered or rounded at the base, 34 to 112 in. long, 12 to 1 in. wide, toothed (sometimes obscurely so), downy at the base of the midrib beneath, and with few or many hairs scattered over the upper surface. Flowers white, fragrant, produced during summer and autumn in forking clusters from the terminal leaf-axils, the whole forming a short terminal panicle; the flowers are mostly in pairs on each stalk. Corolla 12 in. long, scarcely as wide, funnel-shaped, hairy inside and out. Calyx composed of five rosy-tinted, slightly downy sepals, each 14 in. long and obovate. Stamens protruded. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 168.

Native of China, where it is widely spread; discovered in 1816-17 by Clarke Abel. On a sunny wall it will pass through most winters with little harm, but the true plant is rare in cultivation. Lindley’s name A. rupestris has been used both for this species and for A. × grandiflora.


Genus

Abelia

Other species in the genus