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Chimonanthus
Also called Winter Sweets
Chimonanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Calycanthaceae, native to China, but is also cultivated elsewhere in Asia, including Iran. The genus includes three to six species depending on taxonomic interpretation; six are accepted by the Flora of China. The name means winter flower in Greek.
Chimonanthus praecox ("wintersweet") is the only species widely grown as an ornamental plant, for its spicily scented winter flowers; these are also used in floristry as cut flowering branches, which can also be forced as with forsythia. The petals are quite waxy. The plant prefers medium exposure to sunlight or high dappled shade, a fresh climate (hardy to USDA Zone 7), and soft, acidic permeable ground not waterlogged in winter. A protected, south-facing wall encourages early flowering, and a position should be chosen where its spicy perfume can be appreciated while coming and going from the house. Space needs to be allowed for its eventual spread to 3 m (10 ft), since untimely summer pruning to keep an ill-sited shrub in check will sacrifice flowering the following winter.
In China Chimonanthus was domesticated during the Song dynasty and inspired courtly poems from the eleventh century; it flowers at the Chinese New Year, when flowering sprigs are used as hair ornaments. In China, prunings are dried and kept to perfume linen cupboards.
Chimonanthus nitens · Fragrant Wintersweet · Chimonanthus salicifolius
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chimonanthus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
