Euonymus japonicus

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Distribution Map: Based on vouchered plant specimens only. View county names by placing the mouse cursor over a particular county.

Species Distribution Map
Family:CELASTRACEAE
Species:Euonymus japonicus L. f.
Common Name:Japanese Spindle Tree
Habitat:**
Associated Ecological Communities:**
Growth Habit:Shrub
Duration:Perennial
Category:Vascular
USDA Symbol:**
Plant Notes:Japanese Spindle Tree is an introduced evergreen shrub or small tree in the Bittersweet family (Celastraceae). It is native to Japan, but is cultivated and occasionally persists or escapes in Alabama. Japanese Spindle Tree can be found around old home sites, on roadsides, and in disturbed woodlands. It is an erect shrub or small tree, 3-8 feet in height. The bark is smooth and gray-brown in color. Young stems are terete, not striate, green in color, and glabrous. Leaves are petiolate, opposite in arrangement, ovate or obovate in outline, glabrous, thick and leathery in texture, with margins that are crenate above the middle and entire towards the base. The leaves are dark green in color or variously variegated with yellow or white in some cultivated forms. Flowers are produced in axillary branched cymes. Individual flowers have 4 green, orbicular sepals, 4 greenish-yellow orbicular petals, and 4 stamens. The fruit is a brownish, 4-lobed capsule. Japanese Spindle Tree is similar to Winter Creeper (Euonymus fortunei (Turczaninow) Handel-Mazzetti), another introduced species. Winter Creeper is usually a decumbent vine-like shrub that climbs trees or rocks by aerial roots. It has typically smaller leaves that are crenate nearly to the base. Japanese Spindle Tree is available from many nurseries. It is planted as a specimen shrub (variegated forms) or as a hedge or screen. It is susceptible to numerous pests (Euonymus scale, powdery mildew, mites, leaf miners, aphids, mealybugs, crown gall, and fungal leaf spots), and has fallen out of favor as a landscape plant.—A. Diamond
Taxonomic Notes:This species was first collected as a naturalized element of the Alabama flora in 2012 by A. Diamond in Bulter County. (Phytoneuron 201-47: 1-13).
Status:Not Native
References:**
Specimen: View specimen details in the Alabama Herbarium Consortium Specimen Database

** Not applicable or data not available.

Classification

FamilyCELASTRACEAE - Bittersweet family
Genus Euonymus
Species Euonymus japonicus L. f. - Japanese Spindle Tree

Citation

Citation Euonymus japonicus Linnaeus f., Suppl. Pl. 154. 1781 [1782].
Basionym: **
Type: **

** Not applicable or data not available.

Synonyms

No synonyms exist for this species.

Specimens and Distribution

This species has been reported in the following counties by the herbaria listed. An overview of the individual specimens are provided in the table that follows. Click on the accession number to view details; click on column headers to sort; choose a county or herbaria to filter the specimen data.

Counties included on distribution map: Butler, Conecuh, Marshall, Montgomery, Talladega

Counties represented by specimen data listed below:

Herbaria represented by specimen data listed below: ALNHS, AMAL, JSU, TROY, UWAL

Range of years during which specimens were collected: -

Barcode / Accession No. County Coll. Date Collector &
Collection No.		 Herbarium &
Herbarium Name Used		 Image
AMAL00006341 Marshall 23 Apr 1993 Spaulding, Daniel D.
3497		 AMAL
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
TROY000043852 Montgomery 10 Apr 2016 Diamond, Alvin R.
27305		 TROY
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
TROY000036230 Butler 19 Dec 2012 Diamond, Alvin R.
23600		 TROY
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
UWAL0031176 Conecuh 11 May 2015 Diamond, Alvin R.
26336		 UWAL
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
UWAL0032984 Montgomery 10 Apr 2016 Diamond, Alvin R.
27305		 UWAL
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
JSU122406 Marshall 6 Jul 1993 Spaulding, Daniel D.
4181		 JSU
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
ALNHS00005469 Butler 05 DEC 2017 Barger, T. Wayne
SP#3551		 ALNHS
Euonymus japonicus Thunb.
TROY000042480 Conecuh 11 May 2015 Diamond, Alvin R.
26336		 TROY
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
JSU122407 Talladega 16 Jul 1993 Spaulding, Daniel D.
4185		 JSU
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
ALNHS00005468 Butler 05 DEC 2017 Barger, T. Wayne
SP#3551		 ALNHS
Euonymus japonicus Thunb.
UWAL0013559 Butler 19 Dec 2012 Diamond, Alvin R.
23600		 UWAL
Euonymus japonicus Thunberg
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