"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote in message
...
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.

My wife has always called it gypsy rose, I believe it's commonly called that
in hampshire & Dorset etc.

Steve