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A wonderful woody climber that I have been seeing more and more in gardens in the last few years, though it is generally
labelled Nothing came to mind and I struggled for months to find a suitable place, while storms and mighty winds troubled the garden, knocking down a couple of suitable looking trees in the process. Spring, and the first flowers filled me with delight when I suddenly needed a gift for a friend, and it was gone. I didn't have a place for it and I was happy to give it away but I am still looking for a replacement." Bjorn Alden wrote in 'The Plantsman' in 2011: "The true species with this name, A. pilosula (Finet & Gagnep.) Hand-Mazz., has yellowish or brownish flowers whereas they are a striking reddish pink in A. pilosula hort. But it was not just the flower colour that signalled something was wrong; the shape and size of the leaf was different. A. pilosula hort has rather small, narrow leaves whereas true A. pilosula has larger, broader leaves. Also, A. pilosula hort has 1-3 (rarely 4) flowers per inflorescence whereas there are 5-7 in true A. pilosula... Moreover and perhaps more importantly Li et al (2007) do not mention any white markings on the leaves of true A. pilosula, but this is a striking feature of A. pilosula hort. Trees and Shrubs online says: "Native of China, closely allied to the preceding and to A. kolomikta. It is distinguished by its narrowly ovate leaves, 1 to 11⁄2 in. long, and by its flowers having four sepals and petals instead of the usual five." |
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| 30th May 2014 | ||
