Linnaea amabilis

Linnaea amabilis, formerly known as Kolkwitzia amabilis /kɒlˈkwɪtsi.ə əˈmæbᵻlɪs/ is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae. It used to be the only species in Kolkwitzia, but this has now been merged with an expanded Linnaea, in which also the genera Abelia, Diabelia, Dipelta and Vesalea are subsumed. It is a deciduous shrub known by the common name beauty bush. In China, where it originated, the plant is called wei shi shu (蝟实属). The Latin amabilis means "lovely".

Description

The plant is an arching, spreading shrub, with light brown flaky bark and graceful arching branches, which can grow higher than eight feet tall. It is usually as wide as it is tall. The plant blooms in late spring. Its light pink flowers, dark pink in the bud, are about one-inch long and bell-shaped ("tubular campanulate"); they grow in pairs, as with all Caprifoliaceae, and form showy, numerous sprays along ripened wood. Its leaves are opposite, simple, and ovate, from .5 to 3 inches long, entire or with a few sparse shallow teeth. Its fruit is a hairy, ovoid capsule approximately .25 inches long.