A modern reference to temperate woody plants, including updated content from this site and much new material, can be found at Trees and Shrubs Online.

Abelia spathulata Sieb. & Zucc.

Modern name

Diabelia spathulata (Siebold & Zucc.) Landrein

A deciduous shrub 3 or 4 ft high, much branched; twigs downy when young. Leaves oval-lanceolate, rhomboidal, or ovate; 1 to 2 in. long, 13 to 1 in. wide; unequally toothed; with scattered hairs above, and down on the nerves below; margins red when young. Flowers in pairs at the ends of short side twigs; corolla white with yellow in the throat, 34 to 1 in. long, widely funnel-shaped. Sepals usually five, 14 in. long, rosy, oblong-spathulate, slightly downy. Stamens shorter than corolla. Bot. Mag., t. 6601.

Native of Japan; introduced by Maries in 1880. It is hardy in the milder parts of the southern counties and grew well at Leonardslee, near Horsham.



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

This pretty Japanese species is represented at Kew and at Wakehurst Place, Sussex. It flowers in May. Worthy of introduction is f. colorata, with rosy red flowers from deeper-coloured buds. It is a wild variant with a local distribution.

Genus

Abelia

Other species in the genus