Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox)
Kingdom: Plantae
(Unranked): Angiosperms
(Unranked): Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Calycanthaceae
Genus: Chimonanthus
Species: Chimonanthus praecox
Common name: Wintersweet
Chimonanthus praecox is a genus of flowering plants in the family Calycanthaceae, endemic to China. The name means winter flower in Greek.
They are deciduous or evergreen shrubs growing to 2–13 m tall. The leaves are opposite, entire, 7–20 cm long and 3–7 cm broad. The flowers are 2–3 cm wide, with numerous spirally-arranged yellow. They are strongly scented, and produced in late winter or early spring before the new leaves. The fruit is an elliptic dry capsule 3–4 cm long.
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