Sycoparrotia semidecidua Autunno Rosso

Sycoparrotia semidecidua Autunno Rosso is an unusual small tree or large bush that will delight plant enthusiasts. Resulting from the cross-breeding of the Parrotia persica and the Sycopsis sinensis, it is interesting for its more or less evergreen foliage that takes on beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and red in autumn, a spectacle that can also be enjoyed in winter if the temperatures are not too low. Its flowering, which resembles that of Hamamelis, occurs at the very beginning of spring, in the form of small red and yellow digitate flowers surrounded by brown bracts.

Sycoparrotia semidecidua belongs, like its two parents, to the Hamamelidaceae family, which includes a few other genera appreciated by enthusiasts, such as Hamamelis of course, but also Corylopsis, Loropetalum, and Fothergilla. Less known than the deciduous Parrotia persica, which is native to northern Iran and eastern Caucasus, its second parent, the Sycopsis sinensis, native to the Chinese mountains, has the advantage of having evergreen foliage. The result of this cross-breeding, discovered and described for the first time in Switzerland in 1968, is a large bush whose foliage and habit exhibit characteristics intermediate between those of the two parents. With a narrow and upright habit when young, the bush develops over time into a broadly oval and very dense crown. Its foliage is deciduous below -10 °C and its growth is moderately fast.

Sycoparrotia semidecidua Autunno Rosso can form a more or less spreading large bush, 5 m (16 ft) tall and 3 to 4 m (10 to 13 ft) wide. It can also be trained, either on a single trunk or more often on several trunks, which are covered with a brown-grey bark. Its leaves, arranged alternately on the branches, are simple, elliptical to oblong, entire or toothed at the edges, shiny dark green on the upper side, paler underneath. Pinkish when budding, they turn green during the growing season, and then take on beautiful shades ranging from yellow to scarlet red, passing through pink and violet in autumn and winter. The flowering, devoid of fragrance, occurs in February-March in the axils of the leaves, in the form of rather inconspicuous flowers arranged in clusters. Each flower consists of red anthers surrounded by small brown bracts. The fruit of this bush is a capsule. This large bush is hardy down to approximately -15 °C.

Sycoparrotia semidecidua Autunno Rosso will naturally earn its place as a specimen plant in a small garden, in a mixed hedge, or in a shrub grove. It will be perfect at the back of a border to provide a green backdrop for lower shrubs, preferably deciduous ones so as not to obscure the spectacle of its autumn colours. Combine it with e.g. Clethra alnifolia Anne Bidwell, whose yellow autumn colouring will complement that of Autunno Rosso. In a large garden you can plant a caramel tree, or Cercidiphyllum japonicum, behind the Sycopparotia to create a magical autumn scene. And to enhance its rather inconspicuous flowering nothing beats pairing it with a Hamamelis: choose from among the various available varieties, each one more fascinating than the last with their delicate and very bright winter blooms.