| Description | Seven Son Flower (Heptacodium miconioides) is a shrub that blooms in late summer. Its white flowers can attract butterflies. After the white flower blooms, the shrub produces purplish-red fruit and rose calyces. |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | (hep-ta-coh-DIE-um)(my-co-nee-OY-deez) |
| Plant Type | Shrubs Deciduous |
| Hardiness Zone | 5-8 |
| Sunlight | tolerant prefers full, tolerates some shade, benefits from shade in the southern zones |
| Moisture | prefers moist, tolerates average, not draught tolerant |
| Soil & Site | tolerant, prefers well drained organic, acidic soil |
| Temperature | Has survived down to minus 30 degrees at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Illinois, USA |
| Flowers | white, jasmine-like, borne in terminal panicles and fragrant late summer, |
| Fruit | capsules and calyces that change from green to rose-purple, lasting 2-3 weeks. |
| Leaves | green, opposite, simple, ovate-lanceolate with a wavy margin, little if any fall foliage color |
| Stems | exfoliating bark |
| Dimensions | 10-15 feet in height or more by 1/2 to 3/4 spread, can be grown as a large shrub or a small tree |
| Maintenance | The flower buds form in the spring and mature on the new wood. Pruning should be done late fall or early spring so as not to remove the flower buds. |
| Propagation | seeds, cuttings |
| Native Site | Native to the Zhejiang Province of China. |
| Cultivar Origin | First introduced by H.E. Wilson in 1907 but remained obscure until reintroduced by the Arnold Arboretum in 1980. |
| Misc Facts | Heptacodium is a monotypic genus that derives its name from "hepta" meaning seven, and "codium," referring to the flower head. |
| Author's Notes | At the Chicago Botanic Garden, I saw many large shrubs that were visited by Flutterbys. In college, my Zoology teacher never referred to them as butterflies; he said they "fluttered by". |
| Notes & Reference | #01-Manual of Woody Landscape Plants (Michael Dirr) , Heptacodium "Plant with a bright Future", Tim Wood (Spring Meadow Nursery) |
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