In message , Mitulove
writes

Hello,

If you can spare a moment, could you look at this:

http://tinyurl.com/c47y2t

I have these growing up in my hedges, and I think they're awfully
pretty. Can you tell me anything about them?

It's Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora'. It is a suckering shrub belonging to
the rose family (Rosaceae). It is presumably the same as Kerria japonica
f. plena and Kerria japonica var. plena.

The genus contains just the single species, which has on occasion been
placed in Rubus or Spiraea.

In addition to the double-flowered cultivar, a single selection is grown
under the name 'Golden Guinea'. 'Albescens' (or f. albescens or var.
albescens) is a paler-flowered form. The RHS Plant Finder also lists
'Buttercup' and 'Simplex', but only tentatively accepts them, so they
might be the wild-type, or 'Golden Guinea'.

I've seen a variegated form, which I wasn't impressed by, but I don't
know whether this was the usual variegated form ('Picta').

Google finds me mentions (in the US) of 'Picta Silver', which seems to
have the foliage of 'Picta', and the flowers of 'Albescens'. Other US
varieties are 'Shannon' and 'Splendens'.

Form/variety names include f. argentovariegata, f. picta (which
presumably includes 'Picta'), f. aureovariegata, f. aureovittata
('Aureovittata'), f./var. semiplena, and f./var. stellata.
argentovariegata and picta might be the same.

Other cultivar names are 'Albiflora' (='Albescens'?), 'Honshu', 'Kin
Kan' (='Aureovittata'?) and 'Superba'.

The species first came to the attention of European botanists in the
form of this, double-flowered, form. Due to the failure of this cultivar
to form fruits, and the absence of stamens and styles, it was not at the
time possible to identify the plant as rosaceous, and it was
misidentified as a Corchorus (jute), presumably based on similarities in
habit and foliage.

The genus name, Kerria, is commonly adopted as the English vernacular
name. However I find an American nursery using the name Gypsy Rose. The
name Jews Mallow has been applied to the species, which I presume to
originate from the use of that name for jute, especially Corchorus
olitorius and Corchorus capsularis. (These species are eaten as salad
vegetables in the Middle East, but why they became specifically
associated with Jews is unknown to me.)

In its native Japan it is known as Yamabuki.

Old canes tend to die back, and it would be appropriate to prune the
dead material.


Kind thanks!

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley