''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

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, growing to 1–5 m (3–15′) tall. All are natives of eastern Asia. 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 flowers are 2–4 cm long, with a five-lobed white, pink, or red (rarely yellow)

corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name * Corolla (headgear), an ancient headdress in the form of a circlet or crown * ''Corolla'' (gastropod), a genus of moll ...

, produced in small corymbs of several together in early summer. The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous small winged seeds.

Fossil record

Several fossil

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 in Central Jutland, 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 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; along with the national collection of the closely related genus '' Diervilla''. The German ''Weigela'' national collection, Sichtungsgarten Weigela, is in

Buckow Buckow ( or ) is a town in the Märkisch-Oderland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. The water cure resort is the administrative seat of the ''Amt'' (municipal association) Märkische Schweiz and located in the centre of the eponymous hill range, ...

, Märkische Schweiz.

Ecology

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

Accepted species

# ''

Weigela coraeensis ''Weigela coraeensis'' (Japanese language, Japanese: 箱根空木) is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae. It is native to Japan. Distribution This species is native to Honshu. However, it has been naturalised to other re ...

'' Thunb.
Plants of the World online # ''

Weigela decora ''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 ...

'' (Nakai) Nakai # ''

Weigela floribunda ''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 ...

'' (Siebold & Zucc.) K.Koch # '' Weigela florida'' (Bunge) A.DC. # ''

Weigela × fujisanensis ''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 ...

'' (Makino) Nakai # '' Weigela hortensis'' (Siebold & Zucc.) K.Koch # '' Weigela japonica'' Thunb. # ''

Weigela maximowiczii ''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 ...

'' (S.Moore) Rehder # ''

Weigela middendorfiana ''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 ...

'' (Carrière) K.Koch # ''

Weigela sanguinea ''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 ...

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

Weigela subsessilis ''Weigela subsessilis'', the Korean weigela, is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family native in Korea. It can be found on most of the mountains of Korea, except for the norther sides because the temperatures are very low. As the ...

'' (Nakai) L.H.Bailey

Cultivation

Several of the species are very popular ornamental shrubs in gardens, 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's

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