Decumaria

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Read about Decumaria in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Decumaria (Latin, decumus, tenth, referring to the number of the parts of the flower). Saxifragaceae. Climbing shrubs, cultivated for their handsome glossy foliage and clusters of attractive white flowers.

Climbing by aerial rootlets: lvs. deciduous, opposite, petioled: fls. in terminal peduncled corymbs, small, white, perfect; sepals and petals 7-10; stamens 20-30: fr. a 5-10-celled ribbed caps, opening between the ribs, with numerous minute seeds.—One species in E. N. Amer. and one in China.

These are ornamental climbing shrubs with handsome glossy foliage and fragrant white flowers, forming a corymb of feathery appearance, well adapted for covering walls, rocks, trellis work and trunks of trees; tender, but the American species survives in sheltered positions as far north as Massachusetts, while the Chinese is more tender. They thrive in almost any humid soil. Propagation is by greenwood cuttings in summer under glass, rarely by seeds.

D. sinensis, Oliv. Very similar to the preceding; less high: lvs. generally oblong, obtuse or obtusish, 1½-3 in. long and H-l in. broad: pedicels appressed-pubescent. Cent. China. H.I. 18:1741. Alfred Rehder.


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Decumaria
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cornales
Family: Hydrangeaceae
Genus: Decumaria
L.

Species
Decumaria barbara

Decumaria sinensis

Decumaria (woodvamp) is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Hydrangeaceae, one (D. barbara) native to the southeastern United States, and the other (D. sinensis) native to central China.

They are shrubby lianas growing to 4-10 m high through shrubs and trees, climbing by means of aerial adhesive rootlets. The leaves are variably deciduous to evergreen (with D. barbara tending to be more often deciduous, D. sinensis more evergreen), 3-10 cm long, ovate with an acute apex, and a smooth to obscurely toothed margin. The flowers are 5-10 mm diameter, white to creamy colored, fragrant, produced in dense panicles 3-8 cm broad. The fruit is a dry capsule containing several seeds.

References