Burning Bush

This species is widespread, not only as a common shrub in the distribution area but also as a cultivated ornamental in the Old and New Worlds. The leaves change from pinkish to reddish and even purple in late autumn. The distribution reports from Guangxi and Yunnan have not been confirmed.

Deciduous shrubs, 1-4 m tall; young branches usually with 2 or 4 winglike corks, wings up to 5 mm wide, 1-2 mm thick, twigs 4-angled, green or brown when dry. Petiole sessile or very short, 2-4 mm; leaf blade thinly leathery to papery, obovate or obovate-elliptic, sometimes ovate-elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 4.5-10 × 2-4 cm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin crenulate to serrulate, apex acute, acuminate, or even caudate; lateral veins 5-7 pairs, curving forward and disappearing before reaching margin. Peduncle slender and short, 1-2 cm, typically 1 dichotomous branch with 3 flowers, rarely 2 branches with more flowers; pedicel slender, 5-7 mm. Flowers 4-merous, ca. 9 mm in diam.; sepals suborbicular; petals green, light yellow, or greenish yellow, ovate, base attenuate. Capsule reddish brown when fresh, dark brown or gray when dry, 4-lobed, 1-1.3 cm in diam., only 1-3 lobes developing, lobes ovoid. Aril bright red. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Jul-Nov.

Anhui, Gansu, Guangdong, ?Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, ?Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia (Sakhalin); cultivated in Europe and North America].

Forests, woodlands, scrub; near sea level to 2700 m.

Celastrus alatus Thunberg in Murray, Syst. Veg., ed. 14, 237. 1784; C. striatus Thunberg; Euonymus alatus var. ellipticus Chen H. Wang; E. alatus var. microphyllus Chen H. Wang; E. alatus var. pilosus Loesener & Rehder; E. alatus var. pubescens Maximowicz; E. ellipticus (Chen H. Wang) C. Y. Cheng; E. striatus (Thunberg) Loesener; E. verrucosus Scopoli var. tchefouensis Debeaux.