Get to know 20 plants selected from China. Discover their scientific names, identifying features and growing needs.
Cinnamomum camphora
An evergreen tree reaching up to 30 m tall, with greyish-brown bark that becomes fissured with age. Leaves are leathery, ovate-elliptic, with three prominent veins from the base, and emit a strong camphor scent when crushed. Panicles of sma
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Ulmus pumila
A large, broadly upright, deciduous tree to 30m, with rough, oval, toothed, dark green leaves turning yellow in late autumn. Tiny red flowers are produced in early spring followed by winged green fruit
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Osmanthus fragrans
A vigorous, upright, evergreen shrub or small tree to 5m tall, with glossy, leathery, finely toothed dark green leaves. Small clusters of highly fragrant, tubular white flowers are produced in autumn, and sometimes in spring and summer; the
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Gardenia jasminoides
A large evergreen shrub with deep glossy green, elliptic leaves and very fragrant, broadly funnel-shaped white flowers 8cm across in summer and autumn
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Ophiopogon japonicus
Evergreen, rhizomatous perennial about 30cm tall, producing slowly spreading clumps of tough, narrow, linear, dark green leaves, and bearing short racemes to 8cm tall of small, bell-shaped, white or lilac-tinged flowers, in summer, followe
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The Corkscrew Willow (Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa') is a deciduous tree known for its uniquely twisted and contorted branches, which provide striking winter interest. Its narrow, lance-shaped leaves emerge bright green in spring, darken in su
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Ginkgo biloba
A deciduous tree to 25m, conical when young, becoming more irregular with age. Leaves to 12cm in width, fan-shaped and often bilobed, turning clear yellow in autumn. Unpleasantly scented dull yellow fruits in autumn on female plants
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Rhododendron simsii
A tender evergreen or semi-evergreen azalea up to 2m high, with a branching habit and broadly ovate leaves. Produces funnel-shaped, carmine to rich red flowers, with darker red spots on the narrow petals, in pairs or small clusters at the t
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Phragmites australis
P. australis is a vigorous reed grass to 3m in height, spreading by rhizomes and forming an extensive colony of erect, leafy, robust stems with drooping linear leaves which turn light brown in autumn, and terminal dark purple flowering pani
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Liquidambar formosana
A deciduous tree to about 15m tall, broadly conical in outline. The 3-lobed leaves, turn to shades of red, orange and purple in autumn. Insignificant flowers in late spring are followed by spiky fruit capsules in autumn, which can remain on
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Lagerstroemia indica
L. indica is an upright, deciduous tree or large shrub with peeling brown and grey bark and, 8cm long, dark green leaves which are bronze when young. The crinkly, white, pink or purple flowers are produced from summer to autumn in showy, co
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Cunninghamia lanceolata
A columnar to narrowly conical evergreen tree to 20m, with furrowed, red-brown bark and 2-ranked, dark green, needle-shaped leaves, whitish beneath
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Houttuynia cordata
H. cordata is a wide-spreading herbaceous perennial to 30cm in height, with dull blue-green leaves and dense flower spikes in late spring
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Nelumbo nucifera
A rhizomatous aquatic perennial with long-stalked, rounded green leaves to 80cm wide, and solitary, pink or white, water lily-like flowers to 30cm wide, borne on long stalks well above water level in summer
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Ficus microcarpa
A bushy evergreen shrub to 4m when grown in a container, with glossy dark green, ovate leaves; in warm climates grows into a large tree with abundant aerial roots
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Rosa chinensis
China rose, an ancestor of most of our modern garden hybrid roses. Variable growth about 1.2 to 1.8m tall with stout branches and glossy green leaves composed of 3-5 leaflets and single crimson or pink, occasionally white blooms 5cm across,
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Capsella bursa-pastoris
A tap-rooted annual producing a rosette of toothed leaves which often overwinters. Tiny, white flowers are produced anytime from spring to autumn on upright stems to 40cm, followed by characteristic heart-shaped seed pods
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Styphnolobium japonicum
S. japonicum is a large deciduous tree to 25m tall with a rounded, low-branched habit, and rich green pinnate leaves to 30cm in length. Fragrant creamy-white, pea-shaped flowers 12mm in length, produced in terminal panicles in mature trees
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Camellia sinensis
A slow-growing, tender, large, upright evergreen shrub, with dark-green, lance-shaped, toothed leaves. It has fragrant, white, single flowers with many golden-yellow stamens in autumn and winter. If you drink tea, black, or green, this is
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