Aucuba japonica

Japanese Aukube ( Aucuba japonica cv. 'Variegata ')

The Japanese called Aukube ( Aucuba japonica), Japanese or kumquat, is a plant that ( Aucuba ) in the family Garryaceae belongs to the genus Aukuben from the order of Garryales. The German trivial name kumquat refers to the orange trees like leaves and not the fruit.

Description

The Japanese Aukube is an evergreen, woody plant; the shrubs reach stature heights of 1 to 2 ( to 3) meters. You branch dichotomously. The against-constant leaves are simple, elliptical, leathery, wide and about 20 cm long. The leaf margin is wavy and sometimes serrated irregular.

The Japanese Aukube is dioecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ). The flowers are surrounded by bracts. The unisexual, with radial symmetry, relatively small flowers are cruciform. The sepals are reduced. The four free, reddish brown to purple bracts are oval with a narrow tip. The male flowers have four stamens. The ovary is inferior.

Forming bright red to purple berries, which have a length of about 2 cm inches, a diameter of 5 to 7 mm, and generally contain only one seed. The flowers appear in spring and it bears fruit in the fall.

Dissemination and Culture

The home of the Japanese Aukube is Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the southern part of China's Zhejiang province.

The Japanese Aukube has been cultivated for a long time in China and Japan, before it was "discovered" by Europeans. It was introduced in 1856 by Philipp Franz von Siebold in Europe. Since that time, several varieties have been bred. It depends on the local climate from which varieties in Central Europe are sufficiently hardy, they are usually cultivated in Central Europe as a container plant, with a frost-free wintering. It is also suitable for cool rooms (winter gardens ) as a houseplant.

Varieties

From the way Japanese Aukube ( Aucuba japonica) there are several varieties (selection):

Aucuba japonica cv. ' Crotonifolia ': it has slightly larger leaves than the wild type.
Aucuba japonica cv. ' Dentata ': The dark green leaves are serrated at the edge, there are beautiful red fruits formed.
Aucuba japonica cv. ' Fukurin ': The leaves have a yellow border.
Aucuba japonica cv. ' Grandis ': It has very large, yellow-green leaves.
Aucuba japonica cv. ' Hillieri ': It has glossy leaves and crimson fruit.
Aucuba japonica cv. ' Longifolia ': It has narrow leaves.
Aucuba japonica cv. 'Nana rotundifolia '
Aucuba japonica cv. ' Picturata ': it has a yellow spot in the middle of the sheet.
Aucuba japonica cv. ' Rozannie ': It makes a lot of red fruit.
Aucuba japonica cv. 'Variegata': She has beautiful yellow spots on the leaves.