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Sargentodoxa cuneata (Oliver) Rehd. & Wils.

Modern name

Sargentodoxa cuneata (Oliv.) Rehder & E.H.Wilson

Synonyms

Holboellia cuneata Oliver

A unisexual, twining, deciduous climber 25 ft or more high; young shoots glabrous. Leaves dark glossy green, alternate, glabrous, composed of three leaflets borne on a common stalk 2 to 4 in. long. Side leaflets stalkless, obliquely ovate (or like a heart-shaped leaf halved lengthwise), pointed, up to 412 in. long, half as much wide; middle leaflet obovate, oval, or lozenge-shaped, smaller than the side ones and on a stalk 12 in. long. Male flowers greenish yellow, fragrant, borne numerously in pendulous racemes 4 to 6 in. long; each flower has six petal-like, narrowly oblong sepals 12 in. long, 18 in. wide, and is borne on a stalk 12 to 34 in. long; stamens six. Female flowers (borne on separate plants) also in pendulous racemes up to 4 in. long, with six similar greenish yellow, petal-like sepals, and the carpels crowded on a central cone 14 in. high. When these carpels mature each develops into a roundish dark purplish blue ‘berry’ 14 in. wide, carrying a single black seed and borne on a stalk from 14 to 12 in. long. This stalk is the elongated base of the carpel. Bot. Mag., t. 9111, 9112.

Native of Central China; discovered by Henry about 1887; introduced by Wilson in 1907. It first flowered in this country with C. J. Lucas at Warnham Court, Horsham, in May 1922. It may need the protection of a wall in many places. In the shape of its leaflets it is distinct from any other hardy climbing shrub except Sinofranchetia, to which it has much resemblance.


Sargentodoxa cuneata

Sargentodoxa cuneata

Genus

Sargentodoxa

Other species in the genus

[No species article available]