Girald's forsythia

Description

Forsythia giraldiana, also known as Girald's forsythia, is a yellow-flowering shrub ofthe olive family (Oleaceae). The natural range of the species is in north-west China. It is rarely used as an ornamental shrub. Forsythia giraldiana grows as a stiffly upright shrub and reaches heights of up to 4 meters. The twigs are bare and light brown. The pith of the branches is chambered. The leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole is 5 to 10 millimeters long, glabrous or finely hairy. The simple leaf blade is 3.5 to 12 inches long, 1.5 to 6 inches wide, oblong elliptical, ovate to lanceolate, long acuminate with a rounded to wedge-shaped base and usually entire to slightly serrated. The stalked flowers are solitary, in twos or threes in the leaf axils. The calyx is 3 to 4 millimeters long, covered in red and ciliated. The corolla is light yellow with a 4 to 6 mm long corolla tube and 0.7 to 1.5 cm long corolla lobes. The pistil is 3 millimeters long in flowers with stamens 5 to 6 millimeters long, and 5 to 7 millimeters long in flowers with stamens 3 to 5 millimeters long. The fruit capsule is 0.8 to 1.8 centimeters long and 4 to 10 millimeters wide, ovate or lanceolate-ovate and has few cork pores. Forsythia giraldianaflowers from March to May and bears fruit from June to October. The chromosome number is 2n = 28. Forsythia giraldiana is a species of the genus Forsythia (Forsythia) in the olive family (Oleaceae). There it is assigned to the tribe Forsythieae. Alexander von Lingelsheim first described the species in 1908. Forsythia giraldiana is sometimes used as an ornamental shrub because of the ornamental flowers.