A deciduous shrub, 20 to 30 ft high in the wild state, and often tree-like; young shoots glabrous. Leaves of three leaflets, which are oblong-lanceolate, abruptly acuminate, the terminal one stalked and 2 to 4 in. long, the side ones almost stalkless; all finely toothed, and downy at the base beneath. Flowers white or rose-coloured, about 1⁄2 in. long, borne in April or May in slender panicles up to 4 in. long, which spring direct from axillary buds on the wood of the previous year. Fruit a three-celled, pear-shaped, inflated capsule, 2 in. long, 1 in. wide, tapering gradually at the base but terminating in a short, sharp point. Seeds shining grey, about the size of large shot. Bot. Mag., t. 9074.
Native of central and, more rarely, of western China; discovered by Henry in Hupeh; introduced by Wilson in 1908 for the Arnold Arboretum. Wilson called it the most beautiful species of the genus, but it has never become common outside collections. It is hardy enough except when it is young and making long sappy growths. But the panicles emerge from the buds on the naked wood quite early in the spring and may be destroyed by frost before the flowers expand. Both in the wild and in cultivation it grows to about 30 ft high and may even form a small tree with a single trunk. But the flowers make a finer display if it is grown as a shrub.
The pink-flowered form, usually called ‘Rosea’, is more admired than the white; the young leaves are chocolate-bronze in colour, later sea-green, and add much to the beauty of the plant. It received an Award of Merit in 1953 (the white-flowered form was accorded the same award in 1924).
var. rosea Rehd. & Wils. – The flowers in typical S. holocarpa are often pink. In this misleadingly named variety the leading character is not the colour of the flowers, though these are pink, but their larger size and leaves being woolly all over on the underside when young, later woolly on the lower part of the midrib. But the ‘Rosea’ of gardens, at least as distributed commercially, has the youngest leaves quite glabrous beneath, except on the midrib.
S. emodi Brandis – This species, a native of the N.W. Himalaya, Pakistan and Afghanistan, is nearer to S. holocarpa botanically than it is to the geographically more adjacent S. colchica and S. pinnata. The leaves are trifoliolate, each leaflet 3 to 6 in. long, elliptic or ovate-elliptic, rounded at the base, downy or glabrous beneath, the terminal leaflet long-stalked, the lateral almost sessile, finely and evenly toothed. Flowers white, borne with or after the leaves in pendulous panicles. Fruits three-lobed at the apex. It has been introduced but is uncommon. The specific epithet derives from Emodus, the classical name for the western Himalaya.