''Osmanthus armatus'', also known by the common name devil woodMissouri Botanic Garden. Available at: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=301075&isprofile=0& ccessed 13/02/21/ref> or

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

vernacular name 红柄木犀 (Hóng bǐng mùxī)Flora of China via efloras. Available at: http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=210001385 ccessed 13/02/21/ref> is a species in the genus ''

Osmanthus ''Osmanthus'' ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. Most of the species are native to eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Indochina, the Himalayas, etc.),and was ...

'' in the family ''

Oleaceae Oleaceae, also known as the olive family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales, It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct.Peter S. Green. 2004. "Oleaceae". pages 296-30 ...

''. It is native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

,Trees and Shrubs Online. Available at: https://treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/osmanthus/osmanthus-armatus/ ccessed 13/02/21/ref>RHS Plants. Available at: https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/11980/Osmanthus-armatus/Details ccessed 13/02/21/ref>Plants of the World Online. Available at: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:610852-1 ccessed 13/02/21/ref> specifically the west or central and southeast. The species was introduced into the UK via

Veitch Nurseries The Veitch Nurseries were the largest group of family-run plant nurseries in Europe during the 19th century. Started by John Veitch sometime before 1808, the original nursery grew substantially over several decades and was eventually split into t ...

in 1902 by

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...

, who collected it during one of his trips to China.

Description

A woody evergreen which ranges in size from a shrub to a small tree, reaching 8–15 feet high at maturity. Though the young leaves are conspicuously spiny, spines are often entirely absent from the mature, adult leaves. White blooms appear in axillary clusters in autumn.

Etymology

''Osmanthus'' is derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and means 'fragrant flower'.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 56, 285 ''Armatus'' means 'armed' or 'thorny'.

References

armatus Flavius Armatus (died 477), also known as Harmatius, was an Eastern Roman military commander, ''magister militum'' under Emperors Leo I, Basiliscus and Zeno, and consul. He was instrumental in the rebellion of Basiliscus against Zeno, and in his s ...

Endemic flora of China {{oleaceae-stub