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Euonymus (Euonomon the name given)

(Euonomon, the name given to this plant by Theophrastus, from eu, good, and onoma, a name). Spindle-tree. ORD. Celastrineae. A genus of interesting hardy or half-hardy, deciduous or evergreen, trees or shrubs. Flowers small, often greenish or purplish; peduncles axillary. Leaves opposite, petiolate, entire, or serrate. Branches terete. They are of very easy culture in any ordinary garden soil, and form excellent subjects for low, close fences, or shrubberies. The species with variegated leaves are well suited as edgings to large beds. Propagated readily by cuttings, about 3in. in length, of the last season's growth; these should be inserted in a fine compost of loam and sand, in early autumn.

E. americanus (American). Burning Bush; Strawberry Bush. fl. greenish-purple; petals nearly orbicular; peduncles one to three flowered. June. fr. scarlet. l. ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acute serrated, almost sessile. Branches smooth, quadrangular. h. 2ft. to 6ft. North America, 1686. Hardy deciduous. (A. F. B. ii. 499.) E. atropurpureus (dark-purple).* Burning Bush; Waahoo. fl. dark-purple, quadrifid; petals orbicular; peduncles many-flowered. compressed. June. l. oval-oblong, acuminate, serrated, stalked. Branches smooth. h. 6ft. to 14ft. North America, 1756. Hardy deciduous. (A. F. B. ii. 499.) E. europaeus (European).* fl. greenish-white, small, foetid; petals oblong, acute; peduncles usually three-flowered. May. l. ovate-lanceolate, finely serrated. Branches smooth. h. 6ft. to 20ft. West Asia, Europe (Britain), &c. Hardy deciduous. (Sy. En. B. 317.) E. fimbriatus (fimbriate).*fl. white, sub-umbellate, on long filiform peduncles. l. ovate, acuminate, fringed with long, parallel, toothed serratures. Branches terete, smooth. h. 12ft. Japan, India, &c. Half-hardy evergreen. (F.d.S. 1851, 71.) E. grandiflorus (large-flowered). fl. white, very large, slightly nodding, inodorous; petals orbicular, flat, with curled edges; peduncles slender, flattened, three to six-flowered. April. l. ovate-oblong, obtuse, acutely-serrulate, with a tapering, entire base. Branches slightly four-cornered. h. 10ft. Nepaul, 1824. Half-hardy evergreen. E. Hamiltonianus (Hamilton's). fl. white; petals lanceolate, cordate, with revolute edges; peduncles dichotomous, six-flowered. April. l. lanceolate, finely serrated. Branches smooth, terete. h. 5ft. to 20ft. Temperate Himalaya, Japan, 1825. Half-hardy evergreen. (B. F. F. 16.) E. japonicus (Japanese).* fl. white, small; petals orbicular, fringed; peduncles flattened, crowded and panicled on the recent shoots, two or three times dichotomous, many-flowered. April. l. oblong, sharply serrulated, acuminated. Branchlets pendulous, slightly compressed. h. 20ft. Nepaul, 1804. Half-hardy in the northern counties of England. Evergreen. There are several handsomely variegated forms of this species, the names of which indicate the markings: albo-marginatis, aureo-marginatus, latifolius-albus, latifolius-aureus, &c. E. radicans, a small decumbent shrub, with oblong or orbicular serrated leaves, is a form of E. japonicus; it also has several highly ornamental variegated sub-varieties.

E. latifolius (broad-leaved). fl. white at first, but becoming purplish as they fade; petals oval, ovate; peduncles trichotomous, many-flowered. June. l. broad, ovate, toothleted. Branches smooth. h. 6ft. to 8ft. Europe, &c., 1863. Hardy deciduous. (B. M. 2384.) E. verrucosus (warty-branched). fl. greenish-white or greenish-yellow, small; petals ovate; peduncles three-flowered. May. l. somewhat ovate. Branches warted. h. 10ft. to 20ft. Europe, 1730. Hardy deciduous. (J. F. A. 1,49.)