Weigela Thunb. (1780), in the family Caprifoliaceae, contains
10 species in eastern Asia.
Description Upright or spreading shrubs to 5m. The leaves are opposite, deciduous, with teeth. The flowers are solitary or in groups of 3 or more, on short branches, white, pink, purple, or yellow with an orange throat, usually scented. Sepals 5, narrow. Petals 5, spreading, forming a 2-lipped or almost regular corolla, joined at the base to form a tube. Stamens 5, shorter than the petals. Ovary inferior, with 2 cells and many ovules; style 1, simple, with a capitate stigma. Pollination is presumed to be by bees. The fruits are capsules with numerous minute, often winged seeds.

Key Recognition Features The narrow ovaries with 5 sepals, and the usually pinkish flowers with rounded petals.

Evolution and Relationships There are 2 rather distinct types of Weigela; the commonly cultivated species such as W. florida (Bunge) DC and W. praecox (Lem.) Bailey, which have almost radially symmetrical flowers, and the yellow-flowered species such as W. middendorfiana (Carr.) Lem. and W. maximowiczii (S. Moore) Rehd. which have distinctly 2-lipped flowers.


Ecology and Geography In moist, rocky woods in China, Korea, northeastern Siberia, and Japan.

Comment Weigela is a popular ornamental genus, particularly in cold-winter areas; many cultivars were raised in France in the late 19th century. The genus is named after C.E. von Weigel, (1748–1831), professor of botany in Greifswald.

Photograph: Weigelia florida