japonica – from Japan, where the species was first collected and described by Swedish physician Carl Thunberg, a pupil of Linneas, while working for the Dutch East India Company in Japan

Native range: S.E. China, Taiwan, Japan

Leaves:

• alternate (looks whorled but is simply compressed)
• simple
• oblanceolate to lanceolate
• serrulate
• glabrous
• above - shiny green
• lower - duller green

Flowers:

• pendulous inflorescence (panicles/branched racemes)
• 2.5–5” long
• flowers urn- or bell-shaped, white
• 5 sepals & petals, fused
• 10 stamens
• bead-like flower buds are set in late summer for the following year

Fruit:

• dry capsules

Other characteristics:

• shrub to 8–9 ft.
• evergreen
• flowers early in spring
• new stem/leaf growth orange to red (some cultivars are selected for this)
• many (>50) cultivars:
  • ‘Forest Flame’ – new leaves brilliant red
  • ‘Variegata’ – leaves with white variegated margins
  • dwarf cultivars

Ecology & Adaptations:

• grows in mountain thickets and forest understory in SE China, Taiwan & Japan
• very shade tolerant:
  • energy investment is mostly in photosynthesizing structures (leaves) rather than woody stems
  • evergreen leaves capture light when deciduous oak and beech over-story does not have leaves
• somewhat drought tolerant:
  • stomate regulate water loss
  • reduced demand for water via decrease in photosynthetic rate
• herbivore defense:
  • leaves and nectar contain toxic compounds (grayanotoxin) that induce burning, vomiting, and a coma in some animals and protect the plant form herbivory (e.g., from gypsy moths and cotton bullworm)
• coevolution:
  • some insects can handle the toxins and take advantage of them: a geometrid moth was found to store toxic compounds originating from the larval host plant (P. japonica), and these served to protect the moth from ingestion by house lizards