In message om, Dave
Poole writes
On Nov 4, 10:35 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:

a. Skimmia anquetilia. Western Himalaya to Afghanistan. Shrub to 2 m.
Not recorded at that size outside native haunts ..... [snip]

Not in Flora of China. More surprisingly not in Flora of Pakistan, which
only has Skimmia laureola, nor in Flora of Nepal Checklist, even tho'
IPNI gives the range as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal.

I grew it many years ago during the '70s, when I seemed to be
acquiring members of the Rutaceae. I think it came to me from Ness
via Picton at Colwall Nurseries, but I could be wrong on that. One of
the scraps of info that tends to stick, was that this form was from an
eastern accession where it grew to around 2m.

Skimmia japonica is not in the Flora of China. I guess that the
reference to China in the above applies to Skimmia reevesiana.

It is an hermaphroditic, Chinese and Taiwanese sub species, very well
known in the nursery trade for its reliability in producing berries
without the need of pollinator, unlike the species proper. Generally
seen as a low spreading mound to 60 - 70 cms high and across, only
very old plants manage to reach 1m. There used to be a pair of ssp.
reevesiana at Brockencote Hall in Worcestershire, which were over 1m
high and across. It's a rather smart restaurant nowadays with a car
park in place of the Skimmias.

As to Skimmia japonica proper, it is variable and usually present in
gardens in the more compact, horticulturally selected forms. Over the
years I've read various articles on Japanese flora mentioning very
large, moss-laden plants in habitat, but these are exceptionally
rare. Good, compact forms are the most valued, which is why the
cultivar 'Rubella' is probably the most popular of all.

The Flora of Japan has a long list of botanical varieties. I didn't look
at them, and expect most of them are synonyms, but there might be a
larger form buried in there.

h. Skimmia laureola. Nepal to Vietnam and China. Shrub or small tree to
13 m.

"Shrub to 1.3 m." Did someone lose a decimal point?

I suspect a lot of wishful thinking expanded it to a 40ft+ tree! I
couldn't dismiss that outright because it's impossible to know about
every sighting and description of species in habitat. It is usually
reported as an under storey shrub, but I vaguely remember an article
(possibly in the old RHS Journal) mentioning sightings of very large
plants in Nepal. The leaves of this are used for flavouring curries
and stews! A bit of a risky condiment considering the poisonous
alkaloids found in many if not all Skimmias.

Hillier describes it as a creeping shrub.

I guess some of the discrepancies are due to differences between the
size of the usual run of the species,

I think it is important to appreciate that botanical descriptions tend
to dwell upon typical plants within a specie and size variations due
to local climatic influences etc. are of less note than structural
characteristics. In gardening, horticultural variations (usually of
no botanical significance) are the most important aspects, which is
why few of us pay a great deal of attention to botanical references,
except when trying to distinguish between species.

Of course, from the point of view of Sacha and her customers, it's the
expected, not extreme, size that is relevant, and also the size that is
reached within a sensible period of time.

The key phrase here is "within a sensible period of time". Sacha's
customer will not see the Skimmia reach that height in his lifetime,
but his grandchildren or great grandchildren might. Provided of
course the plant is grown in optimum conditions.

I've been through my digital photograph files. Most of the Skimmias are
young plants, but there's an older 'Ruby Dome' at Logan Botanic which
has a spread of the order of 2m, but probably less than 1m of height -
dome seems to be a misnomer for older plants, and there's an
unidentified plant (I'd guess a japonica) at Dorothy Clive, which might
be 1.5m in height, but with twice that spread.

The figures in Wikipedia seem to be from Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS
Dictionary of Gardening. If someone with a copy could check whether the
13m for laureola is a missing decimal point ...
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley