Celastrus orbiculatus
Rundblättriger Bittersweet ( Celastrus orbiculatus )
The Round-leaved Bittersweet ( Celastrus orbiculatus ) is a climbing shrub with showy fruits and remarkable autumn coloring of the family of spindle tree family ( Celastraceae ). The natural range is located in the temperate zone of East Asia. The species is often used as an ornamental shrub, the fruit is used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Description
The Round-leaved Bittersweet is up to 12 meters high climbing shrub. The branches are terete, glabrous and brown to gray- brown with few and inconspicuous Korkporen. The Mark is full and white. The axillary buds are 1-3 mm long, ovate to elliptic. The leaves have a thin, 1-2 cm long stem. The leaf blade is simple, 5-13 cm long and 3-9 cm wide, mostly broadly ovate, rarely rounded or rectangular - elliptical, with broadly rounded, spiny or short- pointed tip, broadly wedge -shaped or blunt rounded base and serrated leaf edge. There shall be three to five pairs of nerves. Both sides are pale green, the leaf surface is glabrous, the lower surface sparsely hairy or glabrous along the leaf veins.
The blue- green flowers are usually dioecious spread and grow singly or up to seven in 1 to 3 inches long, zymösen flowers Standen most. Rare in leaf axils or at branch ends Male flowers have a truncated triangular sepals, the petals are 3-4 mm long, 2 to 2.5 mm wide, obovate - elliptical to rectangular. The discus is shallow cup-shaped, the lobes are flat with rounded - obtuse end. The stamens are 2 to 3 millimeters long. The corolla of female flowers is shorter than the male. The discus is fleshy. The staminodes are very short. The ovary is nearly spherical, the stylus is about 1.5 millimeters long, the scar is clearly triple lobed, the lobes indistinctly lobed tips are twofold. As fruits 8-13 mm are formed large, nearly round, orange-yellow, dreiklappige capsules. The seeds are 4-5 mm long and 2.5 to 3 mm wide, slightly flattened, and reddish brown. The aril is orange. The Round-leaved Bittersweet flowers from May to June and the fruits ripen from July to October.
Distribution and habitat requirements
The natural range is located in the temperate Asia in Mongolia, Russia in Primorye and Sakhalin, in the Chinese provinces of Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, in Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang, on the Korean peninsula and the Japanese islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku. In New Zealand and in the southeastern United States, the species was naturalized. The Round-leaved Bittersweet grows in mixed forests, forest edges, thickets and grassy slopes on moderately dry to moderately moist, slightly acidic to alkaline, moderately fertile soil in full sun to light shade, summer cool and winter cold locations. The species is frost hardy. The distribution area is the hardiness zone 5a associated with mean annual minimum temperatures -28.8 to -26.1 ° C (-20 to -15 ° F).
System
The Round-leaved Bittersweet ( Celastrus orbiculatus ) is a species of the genus Bittersweet ( Celastrus ), in which it is assigned to the subgenus Celastrus. The genus belongs to the family of the spindle tree family ( Celastraceae ) attributed, in which it is assigned to the subfamily Celastroideae. The species was described by Carl Peter Thunberg of 1784 for the first time scientifically. The genus name Celastrus was used before Linnaeus for different evergreen species and derives from the Greek kelastra for an evergreen tree from. The specific epithet orbiculatus comes from the Latin and means " circular ". It refers to the shape of the leaf blade. A synonym of the species is Celastrus articulatus Thunb ..
There are two varieties, Celastrus orbiculatus next orbiculatus still Celastrus orbiculatus var var punctatus ( Thunb. ) Rehder with weaker growth, smaller leaves and ovate - elliptic to oblong - elliptic leaf blades. The distribution area of the variety lies in East Asia.
Use
The Round-leaved Bittersweet is often used because of the decorative fruits and the remarkable fall color as an ornamental shrub. He also serves as a honey plant. The fruits are used in the northeast and north China in traditional medicine. The bark is used for the production of fine fibers which have a seed oil content of 50%.