Photo by Paul Jones
Botanical name: Helwingia spp.
Common name: Helwingia
Family name: Helwingiaceae
Native range: China and Eastern Asia
Location in Duke Gardens: Culberson Asiatic Arboretum
USDA Hardiness Zones: 7-10
A really cool and unique shrub that many, if not most, gardeners have never encountered is in flower now in Duke Gardens’ Asiatic Arboretum—Helwingia. But unless you get up close and personal with the leaves you may never discover these tiny flower clusters which occur on the upper surface of the midvein of leaves. Although handsome and easy to grow, Helwingia may never compete for the front row at your local garden center due to its diminutive and less-than-showy flowers. However, if there’s room for a conversation piece in your garden, then one of the four species of Helwingia (and several cultivars) may be just the shrub you’re looking for. Especially in fruiting when a small marble-sized red or black fruit sits atop the leaves and you wonder, “Why isn’t that rolling off?”
Helwingia species, of which there are four, all hail from eastern Asia, occurring from Japan south and west to the Himalayas. Many years ago I had the good fortune to happen upon two of the four, H. japonica and H. chinensis, while botanizing in the mountains of SW China. Several are home in the arboretum today.