''Weigela'' is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by

The Plant List The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant species ...

, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s in the family

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species, in 33, to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America an ...

, growing to 1–5 m (3–15′) tall. All are natives of eastern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. The genus is named after the German scientist

Christian Ehrenfried Weigel Christian Ehrenfried von Weigel (24 May 1748 – 8 August 1831) was a Swedish-born German scientist and, beginning in 1774, a professor of chemistry, pharmacy, botany, and mineralogy at the University of Greifswald. Biography Born in Stra ...

Description

The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are 5–15 cm long, ovate-oblong with an acuminate tip, and with a serrated margin. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are 2–4 cm long, with a five-lobed white, pink, or red (rarely yellow) corolla, produced in small

corymb Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial re ...

s of several together in early summer. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a dry capsule containing numerous small winged

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

Fossil record

Several

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

and fruit fragments of †''Weigela srodoniowae'' have been described from

middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma (million y ...

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

of the Fasterholt area near

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Danish town with a population of 49,747 (1 January 2022).Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Garden history

The first species to be collected for Western gardens, ''Weigela florida'', distributed in North China, Korea and Manchuria, was found by

Robert Fortune Robert Fortune (16 September 1812 – 13 April 1880) was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller, best known for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants, mainly from China, but also Japan, into the gardens of Britain, Australia, an ...

and imported to England in 1845. Following the opening of Japan to Westerners, several ''Weigela'' species and garden versions were "discovered" by European plant-hunters in the 1850s and 1860s, though they were already well known in Japan. The British ''Weigela'' national collection is held at

Sheffield Botanical Gardens The Sheffield Botanical Gardens are botanical gardens situated off Ecclesall Road in Sheffield, England, with 5,000 species of plants in 19 acres (77,000 m2) of land. The gardens were designed by Robert Marnock and first opened in 1836 ...

; along with the national collection of the closely related genus ''

Diervilla ''Diervilla'', or bush honeysuckle, is a genus of three species of deciduous shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae, all indigenous to eastern North America. The genus is named after a French surgeon Dr. Marin Diereville, who introduced the plant ...

''. The German ''Weigela'' national collection, Sichtungsgarten Weigela, is in Buckow, Märkische Schweiz.

Ecology

''Weigela'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

species including

brown-tail The brown-tail moth (''Euproctis chrysorrhoea'') is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is native to Europe, neighboring countries in Asia, and the north coast of Africa. Descriptions of outbreaks, i.e., large population increases of several year ...

Accepted species

# '' Weigela coraeensis'' Thunb.
Plants of the World online # '' Weigela decora'' (Nakai) Nakai # '' Weigela floribunda'' (Siebold & Zucc.) K.Koch # ''

Weigela florida ''Weigela'' is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by The Plant List, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of deciduous shrubs in ...

'' (Bunge) A.DC. # '' Weigela × fujisanensis'' (Makino) Nakai # ''

Weigela hortensis ''Weigela hortensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to Hokkaido and Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru ...

'' (Siebold & Zucc.) K.Koch # ''

Weigela japonica ''Weigela'' is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by The Plant List, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of deciduous shrubs in ...

'' Thunb. # '' Weigela maximowiczii'' (S.Moore) Rehder # '' Weigela middendorfiana'' (Carrière) K.Koch # '' Weigela sanguinea'' (Nakai) Nakai # ''

Weigela suavis ''Weigela'' is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by The Plant List, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of deciduous shrubs in ...

'' (Kom.) L.H.Bailey # '' Weigela subsessilis'' (Nakai) L.H.Bailey

Cultivation

Several of the species are very popular ornamental shrubs in

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

s, although species have been mostly superseded by hybrids (crosses between ''W. florida'' and other Asiatic species). The following cultivars have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

: * ''Weigela'' 'Red Prince' * ''Weigela florida'' 'Alexandra' * ''Weigela'' 'Florida Variegata' * ''Weigela'' 'Praecox Variegata' 'Pink Princess' is a popular cultivar of ''Weigela'', a shrub native to northern China, Korea, and Japan, that flowers profusely. It is a hardy plant, easy to grow and maintain. It grows to a height and width of up to in appropriate conditions, and is thus more compact than the normal ''Weigela florida'', which makes it a more versatile shrub. It is attractive to

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

s and bees. Weigela is sometimes used in bonsai tree cultivation, where its flowers and bark are highly valued.

Gallery

References

External links

''Weigela coraeensis''
- Images
British national collection at Sheffield Botanical Gardens
{{Taxonbar, from=Q157840 Caprifoliaceae Caprifoliaceae genera