Description
Named only in 1990 by S. S. Ying, though know much earlier than this, this relative of D. sessile is a native of mountain woodlands in Taiwan. It makes a tight clump, from natural increase of its rhizomes clusters, so that you will fairly soon have a nice little thicket, without it ever invading anywhere.
In spring, the rootstocks make arching stems which slowly unfurl to produce stems of 30-50cm tall. The stems are clothed with thin, glossy, ovate leaves with noticeable veins on the upper surface (3 as a rule) and then terminal clusters of white, ivory, white-spotted or pale yellowish flowers which mostly have a contrasting darker mouth. There is also some internal red-brown spotting. The flowers are strongly scented and are borne in May as a rule in our climate. Black berries follow late in summer.
This is a good plant for woodsy conditions, part shade, humus-rich, moisture retentive soil with good drainage nevertheless. It does not like very wet soils, but no Disporum do.
Introduced to our lists November 2018