Euonymus
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Celastrales
Family: Celastraceae
Genus: Euonymus
Species: up to 180
Common name: Spindles
The genus Euonymus comprises about 170–180 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs and small trees. They live mostly in East Asia, including the Himalayas and they also have a distribution in Europe, Asia, Australasia, North America and Madagascar.
The flowers are situated in small groups, inconspicuous and of green or yellow shades. The leaves are opposite (rarely alternate) and simple ovoid, typically 2–15 cm long, and usually with a finely serrated margin.
The fruit is a pink-red four- or five-valved pod-like berry, which splits open to reveal the fleshy-coated orange seeds. The seeds are eaten by frugivorous birds, which digest the fleshy seed coat and disperse the seeds in their droppings.
All parts of the plants are poisonous to humans if eaten.
The wood was traditionally used for the making of spindles for spinning wool; this use is the origin of the English name of the shrubs.
Previous page: Coral Tree (Australian) Erythrina x sykesii
Next page: Cockspur Coral Tree (Erythrina crista-galli)