Helwingia chinensis (female)

Helwingia chinensis, or the Chinese Helwingia female bush, is an understorey shrub, more or less evergreen, known for its epiphyllous flowering: its tiny flowers appear… on the leaves. Discreet yet original in the garden, it is suitable for shaded scenes, cool woodland edges, and sheltered patios. This female young plant will bear decorative fruits if planted near a male plant.

This species belongs to the Helwingiaceae family. The genus Helwingia comprises four Asian species, all dioecious, whose flowers are borne on the midvein of the leaves. The genus name honours the Prussian botanist Georg Andreas Helwing. The native range of Helwingia chinensis extends from the mountains of China (Gansu, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet) to northern Thailand and Myanmar. The bush is found there in fresh undergrowth, in partial shade.

Helwingia chinensis is a multi-stemmed shrub with an upright to spreading habit and medium growth rate. It reaches 1.80 m to 2.40 m in height and 0.90 m to 1.50 m in spread, sometimes less in cool climates. The young shoots are brown-green and glabrous. The leaves, alternate, narrow to lanceolate, 6 to 12 cm long, finely dentate, glossy, often take on a purple hue during the bud burst period; they are evergreen to semi-evergreen depending on the severity of winter. The root system is rather fasciculate and shallow, adapted to fresh, humus-rich forest soils.
The flowering appears in spring, in April-May. On the female plant, one to three small greenish flowers without a petiole are inserted in the middle of the lamina, on the midvein; on the male plant, they are grouped in 4 or 5 on short pedicels. After pollination by insects, small fruits called drupes form, always in the middle of the leaves. They grow during the summer and ripen from August to October; initially cherry red, they can turn to purple-black depending on the clones and conditions.

Plant this female helwingia near a pathway, in fresh undergrowth, where its flowers placed on the leaves and then its small colourful fruits can be easily observed. It pairs well with fine-textured foliage: ferns (Dryopteris erythrosora), hostas (Hosta ‘June’), mahonias with purple foliage (Mahonia 'Meteor') and shade-tolerant grasses (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’). You can also plant at its base a black groundcover of Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ or a border composed of clumps of colourful heucheras (Heuchera ‘Caramel’).

The genus is dedicated to Georg A. Helwing (1666-1748); the horticultural popularisation of H. chinensis in the West owes much to the collections of Dan Hinkley in China in the late 20th century.