Helwingia chinensis

Helwingia chinensis is an Asiatic shrub that is rarely planted in gardens but will delight collectors of rare and unusual plants. This one has a nearly unique characteristic, as its flowering emerges from the central vein of the leaves in late spring. Its foliage is not without appeal, composed of thin and long dentate leaves of a bright green colour that are often tinged with purple due to the cold. They adorn long, flexible branches, which make for a bush that is evergreen and elegant, even in winter. Not very hardy, it thrives in partial shade and will flourish in light, humus-rich, and moist soil.

Helwingia chinensis, also known as Chinese Helwingia, belongs to the botanical family of Helwingiaceae. It is native to the forests of eastern India and western China. With vigorous growth and a slight suckering habit, it reaches a height of 2 to 3 m (6 to 10 ft) and a width of 1.20 to 1.80 m (4 to 6 ft). It has evergreen leaves in winter, shiny, thin and narrow, lanceolate and heavily dentate at the edges, measuring 12 cm (5 in) long. They are quite dark green and turn a beautiful purple colour in autumn and winter, as well as in spring on young leaves. This epiphytic plant displays a rarely observed botanical curiosity, namely that its flowers emerge from the middle of the leaves. This morphology results from a fusion between the flower peduncle and the leaf petiole. The purple flower buds, emerging in May-June from the central vein of the leaf, open up into small white-greenish flowers. Being dioecious, a male and a female plant are necessary to obtain fruiting in the form of blue-black berries.

This Chinese Helwingia, decorative all year round with its foliage, thrives in partially shaded to shaded areas of the garden but is not very resistant to heavy frost. It is ideally placed in the background of a flowerbed, alongside shade-loving shrubs and perennial plants with contrasting foliage, both in terms of colour and leaf shape - such as Japanese maples, dwarf honeysuckles, hydrangeas, azaleas, or even golden-leaved holly. In the background of a shady perennial flowerbed it will blend perfectly with variegated hostas, heucheras, Caucasian forget-me-nots, or knotweeds. Growing it in a pot will allow gardeners in colder regions to appreciate its true value during the warmer season and protect it from severe cold during winter.

The genus Helwingia was named in honor of Georg Andreas Helwing (1666-1748), a German pastor and botanist who discovered and described numerous Prussian plants, including Pulsatillas.