Landscape Plants

Broadleaf, deciduous tree, reportedly can grow to 100 ft (30 m) in height (possibly 150 ft (45 m), often multi-stemmed, crown is narrow or rounded, trunk may reach a width of 3 ft (~1 m), bark grey-brown, at first flakey, rougher with age.  Leaves, often bronze at emergence, are opposite, simple, becoming dark green, fleshy, 6–30 × 3.5–14.5 cm (about 2-12 x 1.5-6 inches), elliptic to ovate, tapered to the base, margin entire.  Flower inflorescence terminal on leafy shoots, as much as 50 cm across.  Flowers white, heavy scented, 5-parted, about 2.5 cm across.  A single lobe of a few calyxes in a flower cluster greatly enlarge to form a white leaf-like structure (called a wing, technically a calycophyll), which is about 8 x 6 cm, in time is takes on pink, red or purplish tones as fruit ripens. Fruit a cylindrical or fusiform capsule to 1.5 cm, sweetly scented, red when ripe (Sutton, J., 2019, provides a detailed description and other information on this species).

Sun to part shade

Hardy to USDA Zone  6   Native to temperate parts of central and southern China and in Vietnam.  Widely distributed but scattered and rare.

An interesting flowering "problem": For over a century, Emmenopterys henryi has been grown in the UK on the promise of the famous plant hunter, E.H. “China” Wilson, who said it was “one of the most strikingly beautiful of Chinese trees”.  The problem is however, the reportedly spectacular and fragrant flowers of this tree are rarely or never produced, at least in the UK.   Wilson first introduced this species to Europe in 1907, ten years after its discovery by Augustine Henry.  This is the source of Europe’s oldest trees, including the tallest British specimens, one at Roath Park, Cardiff, and two at Caerhays Castle, Cornwall.   Despite the size of the oldest British specimens, and those that were cultivated later, none of the trees flowered until 1987.  And since then, the flowering of E. henryi continues to be a special event, often attracting media attention.   The Cardiff tree flowered for the first time in 2018, over a century since being planted.  The lack of flowering is not a consequence of insufficient age or size. E. henryi trees in California and North Carolina have flowered regularly since they were 6 and 10 years old, respectively.   Apparently, climate is the important factor, a hot summer, following a reasonably cold winter, stimulates flowering on the current year’s shoots (Sutton, 2019).

Emmenopterys: from Greek, emmenes, enduring and pteryx, a wing (see above).  henryi, after Augustus Henry (1857-1930), an Irish doctor who collected plants in China.  He discovered E. henryi in 1887.