A deciduous shrub of somewhat tufted habit, 3 to 5 ft high, with four-angled young branches which are downy only on the corners. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 21⁄2 to 7 in. long, half as wide; sharp-toothed, rounded, or heart-shaped at the base, taper-pointed, glabrous except on the midrib above, stalkless. Flowers much crowded in terminal cymose clusters up to 3 in. across, or in smaller axillary ones, produced from June to August. Corolla sulphur-yellow, 1⁄2 in. long, a narrow tube with five narrow-oblong, blunt lobes. Calyx with five narrow, awl-shaped lobes. Seed-vessel 1⁄2 in. long.
Native of the south-eastern United States. This is much superior to its ally D. lonicera, producing large clusters of flowers on the current season’s shoots. It should be pruned back in spring before growth commences, when it will send up a dense mass of shoots that will blossom during the summer.
D. × splendens (Carr.) Kirchn. Weigela splendens Carr.; D. sessilifolia splendens Hort. – A hybrid between the above and D. lonicera. It originated about 1850.
D. rivularis Gatt. – This is closely allied to and very similar to D. sessilifolia, but the leaves are stalked, downy on both sides, especially beneath; the young shoots are downy all over; and the seed-vessel is only 1⁄4 in. long. Flowers lemon-yellow. Native of the south-eastern United States; introduced in 1902 to Kew.