Helwingia chinensis (male)

The male Helwingia chinensis, or Chinese helwingia, brings an original botanical note to the garden due to its flowers that emerge in the centre of the lamina. Suited to shady and cool spots, this generally evergreen bush is cultivated in woodland beds or in a large container, where its slender silhouette and purplish young shoots are decorative. Essential as a pollinator for a female plant if you wish it to bear fruit.

From the Helwingiaceae family, the genus Helwingia comprises four Asian species, all dioecious and with epiphyllous inflorescences. Epiphyllism results from a fusion between the floral pedicel and the midvein of the leaf. The natural range of H. chinensis extends from mountainous China (Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan) to Myanmar and northern Thailand. The bush grows there on the edges and in humid mid-altitude forests.

This is a bush that develops several stems from its stump, with an upright to spreading habit. This helwingia reaches 1.80 m to 2.40 m in height with a spread of 90 cm to 1.50 m. Its growth is slow to medium. The young shoots are purplish-green; the leaves, alternate, leathery, lanceolate to long acuminate, measure 4 to 10 cm in length. They are finely crenate, glossy, evergreen to semi-evergreen depending on the severity of the winter. The flowering of the male plant occurs from April to May: small whitish to greenish flowers, often clustered, emerge in the centre of the lamina; some specimens may reflower weakly in autumn. There are no fruits on the male young plant, but it pollinates a female specimen. The latter will produce small decorative drupes, bright red, turning purple-black late in the season.

Place this male plant of Helwingia chinensis in partial shade, in cool, humus-bearing soil, near a female plant. In woodland, combine it with other evergreen bushes: the Fatsia japonica ‘Variegata’ with its variegated foliage, the Mahonia (x) wagneri 'Pinnacle' for its abundant yellow flowering in late winter, and the Hydrangea serrata 'Vicomte de Kerlot' for its spectacular blue inflorescences in summer. In a large container, on a slightly shaded terrace, pair it with evergreen ferns or a small shrubby ivy 'Arbori Compact'.

The modern horticultural introduction of Helwingia to the West owes much to Dan Hinkley's collections in Sichuan in the 1990s; several male and female clones originate from there. This "flowers on leaf" morphology fascinates botanical gardens, where plants of both sexes are often maintained to illustrate dioecy.