Hello
A friend gave me various unnamed shrubs before she moved to Hong Kong. I've identified all but one so I'm hoping you can help.
As I'm not allowed to post a photo here and don't have a website, I'll describe it as best as I can...
It's about 3ft high, in a pot, and has several stems coming from the earth. The leaves are bright green on both sides and approx 1-2cm long. The leaves are smooth and grow in clusters of three or more. It's been trained up some wires in the pot, and the stems are easy to bend, no thorns. In April and May, single white 'pearls' appeared directly on the stems. These opened up into 2cm white multi-petalled flowers with saffron coloured stamen. Neither the leaves nor flowers have any perfume.
I've searched on many websites, google-imaged it and asked various people (including my HK friend) but no-one has been able to identify it yet. I'd really like to know what it is so that I can care for it properly. If you'd like to see some photos please let me know and I'll email them to you.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.

In message , sue_marie
writes

Hello
A friend gave me various unnamed shrubs before she moved to Hong Kong.
I've identified all but one so I'm hoping you can help.
As I'm not allowed to post a photo here and don't have a website, I'll
describe it as best as I can...

You don't need a web site. Garden Banter allows you to include
photographs, which it will host for you. Or you could use a photo
hosting site such as Flikr or Webshots or Picasa or ...

It's about 3ft high, in a pot, and has several stems coming from the
earth. The leaves are bright green on both sides and approx 1-2cm
long.
The leaves are smooth and grow in clusters of three or more. It's been
trained up some wires in the pot, and the stems are easy to bend, no
thorns. In April and May, single white 'pearls' appeared directly on
the stems. These opened up into 2cm white multi-petalled flowers with
saffron coloured stamen. Neither the leaves nor flowers have any
perfume.

What does multi-petalled mean? 3? 4? 5? 6? Many? (It's not clear whether
you are referring to a semi-double flower, or to a flower with free,
rather than fused, petals.)

How many stamens?

I've searched on many websites, google-imaged it and asked various
people (including my HK friend) but no-one has been able to identify it
yet. I'd really like to know what it is so that I can care for it
properly. If you'd like to see some photos please let me know and I'll
email them to you.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Thanks Stewart. I didn't think I could post any pics - when I registered there was a set of rules including one which seemed to say 'if you post photos they will be removed immediately'.
Anyway, for what they're worth, I've posted them now. I don't think it's a double flower, not like a camellia, and the petals aren't waxy at all. The flower 'buds' started off a very pale green, then turned white and looked just like single pearls before opening, directly on the stem, no stalk as such.
It's evergreen.

In article , sue_marie
writes

Thanks Stewart. I didn't think I could post any pics - when I
registered there was a set of rules including one which seemed to say
'if you post photos they will be removed immediately'.
Anyway, for what they're worth, I've posted them now. I don't think
it's a double flower, not like a camellia, and the petals aren't waxy at
all. The flower 'buds' started off a very pale green, then turned white
and looked just like single pearls before opening, directly on the stem,
no stalk as such.
It's evergreen.

Might be my eyesight but it looks vaguely like a chaenemole, (japanese
Quince) from the leaves etc. and the flowers. Good shrub against wall
grows to about 6 or 7 foot high but does tend to sucker.

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In message , Janet Tweedy
writes
In article , sue_marie
writes

Thanks Stewart. I didn't think I could post any pics - when I
registered there was a set of rules including one which seemed to say
'if you post photos they will be removed immediately'.
Anyway, for what they're worth, I've posted them now. I don't think
it's a double flower, not like a camellia, and the petals aren't waxy at
all. The flower 'buds' started off a very pale green, then turned white
and looked just like single pearls before opening, directly on the stem,
no stalk as such.
It's evergreen.

Might be my eyesight but it looks vaguely like a chaenemole, (japanese
Quince) from the leaves etc. and the flowers. Good shrub against wall
grows to about 6 or 7 foot high but does tend to sucker.


For googling images for comparison use Chaenomeles. Chaenomeles speciosa
'Moorloosei' and Chaeonomeles speciosa 'Nivalis' are the more commonly
found white varieties.

But I couldn't make out sufficient detail for an identification.
Chaenomeles is plausible - probably a better guess that the Eucryphia I
was wondering about. (Eucryphia flowers have 4 petals.)
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Aren't the flowers rather large for a chaenomeles? Judging by the wood panelling behind, I'd have thought these flowers were a good 2 inches across.

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote in message
news
In message , Janet Tweedy
writes
In article , sue_marie
writes

Thanks Stewart. I didn't think I could post any pics - when I
registered there was a set of rules including one which seemed to say
'if you post photos they will be removed immediately'.
Anyway, for what they're worth, I've posted them now. I don't think
it's a double flower, not like a camellia, and the petals aren't waxy at
all. The flower 'buds' started off a very pale green, then turned white
and looked just like single pearls before opening, directly on the stem,
no stalk as such.
It's evergreen.

Might be my eyesight but it looks vaguely like a chaenemole, (japanese
Quince) from the leaves etc. and the flowers. Good shrub against wall
grows to about 6 or 7 foot high but does tend to sucker.


For googling images for comparison use Chaenomeles. Chaenomeles speciosa
'Moorloosei' and Chaeonomeles speciosa 'Nivalis' are the more commonly
found white varieties.

But I couldn't make out sufficient detail for an identification.
Chaenomeles is plausible - probably a better guess that the Eucryphia I
was wondering about. (Eucryphia flowers have 4 petals.)

According to the OP, it's evergreen. Are there evergreen Chaenomeles? I
thought they were all deciduous. And I can't see any thorns.

I couldn't ID it from the photo. Your comment about Eucryphia intrigued me.
Could it be a semi-double Eucryphia?

--

Jeff

In article , Jeff Layman
writes
According to the OP, it's evergreen. Are there evergreen Chaenomeles?
I thought they were all deciduous. And I can't see any thorns.

I couldn't ID it from the photo. Your comment about Eucryphia intrigued
me. Could it be a semi-double Eucryphia?


Well my one doesn't lose it's leaves, quite, but yes i did look for
thorns, it was just the general flower shape and leaves etc. that
reminded me.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Am now having doubts about it being evergreen but there are definitely no thorns, and definitely no scent. The flowers have dropped off and I can't see any fruit buds. However, the googlepics for Chaenomeles are very very much like my shrub. Sorry for the poor quality pic - had to take them on my phone because the card reader for my camera is knacked.

"sue_marie" wrote in message
...

Am now having doubts about it being evergreen but there are definitely
no thorns, and definitely no scent. The flowers have dropped off and I
can't see any fruit buds. However, the googlepics for Chaenomeles are
very very much like my shrub. Sorry for the poor quality pic - had to
take them on my phone because the card reader for my camera is
knacked.

Whatever it is, it's a pretty shrub. How about Chaenomeles "O Yashima"?
That's described as a taller growing, double white one with fairly large
showy flowers and there may be other similar varieties. Here's one
nursery link, albeit in US, with a pic of the flower:
http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin...al=Chaenomeles

--
Sue

"Sue" wrote in message
o.uk...

"sue_marie" wrote in message
...

Am now having doubts about it being evergreen but there are definitely
no thorns, and definitely no scent. The flowers have dropped off and I
can't see any fruit buds. However, the googlepics for Chaenomeles are
very very much like my shrub. Sorry for the poor quality pic - had to
take them on my phone because the card reader for my camera is
knacked.

Whatever it is, it's a pretty shrub. How about Chaenomeles "O Yashima"?
That's described as a taller growing, double white one with fairly large
showy flowers and there may be other similar varieties. Here's one
nursery link, albeit in US, with a pic of the flower:
http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin...al=Chaenomeles

Makes sense that it's a Chaenomeles. I don't know if "O Yashima" is
thornless or not, but there are several varieties listed which are thornless
or nearly so. Add to that double flowers, which are frequently sterile, and
that would account for the absence of any fruit.

--

Jeff