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Acanthopanax sciadophylloides Franch. & Sav.

Modern name

Chengiopanax sciadophylloides (Franch. & Sav.) C.B.Shang & J.Y.Huang

A shrub or small tree to 40 ft high, with grey-brown unarmed branches; young growths hairy. Leaflets five on a common stalk 3 to 11 in. long; terminal leaflets 4 to 6 in. long and 134 to 234 in. wide, the lateral ones smaller, obovate or elliptic to oblong, abruptly pointed at the apex, rounded or cuneate at the base, glabrous beneath except for axillary tufts of brown hairs; margins toothed. Umbels arranged in a large, loosely branched panicle borne in late summer on the wood of the season. Fruits globose, black-purple.

Native of Japan. John Gould Veitch, who saw it growing wild about a century ago in the mountains of Nikko and on Mt Hakkoda, later reported that ‘its handsome foliage would impart a distinctive feature to our park scenery’; but there is no record of its having been introduced to Britain. It may however be in cultivation in Germany and the U.S.A.


Genus

Acanthopanax

Other species in the genus