Heptacodium miconioides

Heptacodium miconioides, the seven-son flower, is a deciduous large shrub or small tree of the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae and the only species of its genus. It is endemic to China, where only nine wild populations remain, all in Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, and it has second-class national protection. It was found for Western horticulture in 1907 by Ernest Wilson for the Arnold Arboretum, and seed collected in 1980 showed it to be easy to grow. It reaches four to nine metres, has papery tan bark, and in September bears fragrant white flowers that attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, followed by deep red calyces. It is hardy to about minus 35 degrees Celsius and has won the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.