forsythia

Forsythia are deciduous shrubs typically growing to a height of {{convert|1|-|3|m|0|abbr=on}} and, rarely, up to {{cvt|6|m|0}} with rough grey-brown bark. The leaves are borne oppositely and are usually simple, though sometimes trifoliate with a basal pair of small leaflets; they range between {{cvt|2|and|10|cm|in}} in length and, rarely, up to {{cvt|15|cm|in}}, with a margin that is serrated or entire (smooth). Twigs may be hollow or chambered, depending on the species.{{cite journal|title=The Forsythias|journal=Arnoldia|volume=10|date=14 April 1950|issue=2|url=http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1950-10--the-forsythias.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609155124/http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1950-10--the-forsythias.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 9, 2015|author=Donald Wyman}}

The flowers are produced in the early spring before the leaves, bright yellow with a deeply four-lobed corolla, the petals joined only at the base. These become pendent in rainy weather thus shielding the reproductive parts.

The fruit is a dry capsule, containing several winged seeds.{{cite book|editor=Huxley, A.|year=1992|title=New RHS Dictionary of Gardening|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0-333-47494-5}}

There is a long-standing belief that forsythia flowers produce lactose, but lactose occurs only very rarely in natural sources other than milk, and attempts to find lactose in forsythia have been unsuccessful.{{cite journal|author=Toba, T.|author2= Nagashima, S. |author3= Adachi, S. |year=1991|title=Is lactose really present in plants?|journal=Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture|volume=54|issue= 2 |pages=305–308 |doi=10.1002/jsfa.2740540217|bibcode= 1991JSFA...54..305T }}

The genus is named after William Forsyth (1737–1804), a Scottish botanist who was a royal head gardener and a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society.{{cite web|url=http://www.eattheweeds.com/foraging-for-forsythia-2/|title=Forsythia|author=Green Deane|website=Eat the Weeds|date=31 August 2011|access-date=25 April 2013|archive-date=13 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613023549/http://www.eattheweeds.com/foraging-for-forsythia-2/|url-status=live}}

File:Green warming stripes.tif that shows how the flowering time of Forsythia suspensa in Bavaria has changed between 1951 and 2020]]

The following species of Forsythia have been documented:{{cite web|publisher=University of Oxford|website=Oleaceae information site |url=http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/fraxigen/fraxinus/oleaceae/forsythia.html |title=Forsythia}}{{Cite web |url=http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/opp4058?opendocument |title=Government of Alberta, Agriculture and Rural Development |access-date=2008-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327000721/http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/opp4058?opendocument |archive-date=2015-03-27 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|title=Forsythia Vahl|url=http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000014961|access-date=2021-05-05|website=www.worldfloraonline.org|archive-date=2021-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109095649/http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000014961|url-status=live}}{{overcite|date=April 2024}}

• Forsythia europaea Degen & Bald. – Balkans in Albania and Serbia
• Forsythia giraldiana Lingelsh. – northwest China
• Forsythia × intermedia Zabel – an artificial garden hybrid between F. suspensa and F. viridissima{{Cite web|title=Forsythia × intermedia Zabel|url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:608891-1|access-date=2021-04-04|website=Plants of the World Online|publisher=Kew Science|archive-date=2022-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030024455/https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:608891-1|url-status=live}}
• Forsythia japonica Makino – Japan
• Forsythia koreana (Rehder) Nakai – Korea
• Forsythia likiangensis Ching & K.M.Feng – southwest China
• Forsythia × mandschurica Uyeki – northeast China
• Forsythia mira M.C.Chang – north central China
• Forsythia ovata Nakai – Korea
• Forsythia saxatilis (Nakai) Nakai – Korea
• Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl – eastern and central China
• Forsythia togashii H.Hara – Japan (Shōdoshima)
• Forsythia velutina Nakai – Korea
• Forsythia viridissima Lindl. – eastern China

A genetic study{{cite journal|author=Kim, K.-J. |year=1999|title=Molecular phylogeny of Forsythia (Oleaceae) based on chloroplast DNA variation|journal=P. Syst. Evol|volume=218|issue=1–2 |pages=113–123 |doi=10.1007/BF01087039 |bibcode=1999PSyEv.218..113K |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01087039|url-access=subscription}} does not fully match the traditionally accepted species listed above, and groups the species in four clades: (1) F. suspensa; (2) F. europaea—F. giraldiana; (3) F. ovata—F. japonica—F. viridissima; and (4) F. koreana—F. mandschurica—F. saxatilis. Of the additional species, F. koreana is usually cited as a variety of F. viridissima, and F. saxatilis as a variety of F. japonica;{{cite web|website=Germplasm Resources Information Network |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?4734 |title=Forsythia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000605122254/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?4734 |archive-date=2000-06-05}} the genetic evidence suggests they may be better treated as distinct species.

Forsythias are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the brown-tail and Gothic moth.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

File:Forsythia suspensa 4090392 レンギョウ（連翹）.JPG

Two species of forsythia are at the heart of the selected forms and garden hybrids: Forsythia suspensa and F. viridissima. "These two species are, as it were, the founder-members of the forsythia family" writes Alice Coats; they were the earliest species brought into Western gardens from the Far East and they have each played a role in the modern garden shrubs.{{cite book|last=Coats|first=Alice M.|title=Garden shrubs and their histories|year=1965|publisher=Dutton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=byLxAAAAMAAJ&q=forsythia|access-date=2020-11-06|archive-date=2024-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008223224/https://books.google.com/books?id=byLxAAAAMAAJ&q=forsythia|url-status=live}}

Forsythia suspensa, the first to be noticed by a Westerner, was seen in a Japanese garden by the botanist-surgeon Carl Peter Thunberg, who included it (as a lilac) in his Flora Japonica 1784. Thunberg's professional connections lay with the Dutch East India Company, and F. suspensa reached Holland first, by 1833. In England, when it was being offered by Veitch Nurseries in Exeter at mid-century, it was still considered a rarity. Not all the varieties of suspensa are splaying and drooping, best seen hanging over a retaining wall; an erect form found by Fortune near Peking in 1861 was for a time classed as a species—F. fortunei.

Forsythia viridissima, meanwhile, had overtaken it in European gardens. The Scottish plant-hunter Robert Fortune "discovered" it—in a mandarin garden of the coastal city of Chusan (Zhoushan)—before he ever saw it growing wild in the mountains in Zhejiang province.

File:Goldglöckchen.JPG

Forsythia × intermedia, as its name suggests, is a hybrid of F. suspensa and F. viridissima, introduced in continental Europe about 1880. Repeated crosses of the same two parents have made reiterations of F. × intermedia quite variable. A bud sport of a particularly showy (spectabilis) form is widely marketed as F. × intermedia 'Lynwood Variety'. This cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit,{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector – Forsythia × intermedia 'Lynwood Variety'|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/214902/Forsythia-x-intermedia-Lynwood-Variety/Details|access-date=7 June 2020|archive-date=8 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008223226/https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/214902/forsythia-x-intermedia-lynwood-variety/details|url-status=live}} as have F. × intermedia Week End 'Courtalyn'{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector – Forsythia × intermedia Week End 'Courtalyn'|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/101339/Forsythia-x-intermedia-Week-End-Courtalyn/Details|access-date=7 June 2020|archive-date=6 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706235718/https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/101339/Forsythia-x-intermedia-Week-End-Courtalyn/Details|url-status=live}} and F. Marée d'Or 'Courtasol'.{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector – Forsythia Marée d'Or 'Courtasol'|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/71890/Forsythia-Maree-d-Or-Courtasol/Details|access-date=7 June 2020|archive-date=6 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706164323/https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/71890/Forsythia-Maree-d-Or-Courtasol/Details|url-status=live}}

About the time of the First World War further species were discovered by plant hunters in China: F. giraldian (found in Gansu, 1910) and F. ovata (collected from seed in Korea by E.H. Wilson) have been particularly useful as seed parents in 20th-century American crosses.

{{more citations needed|section|date=March 2020}}

File:2014-10-29 13 06 11 Forsythia foliage during autumn in Ewing, New Jersey.JPG

Forsythia are early spring-flowering shrubs with yellow blooms,{{cite web |url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/forsythia |title=Forsythia (Easter Tree, Forsythia, Golden Bells) |website=NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox |publisher=North Carolina State University |access-date=19 June 2023 |quote=Yellow flowers appear before foliage in February or March and last through April or May. |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404231622/https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/forsythia/ |url-status=live }} often seen in private gardens, public landscaping works and parks—notably during Eastertide), when some of the plants are nicknamed Easter Tree in honor of the coming spring.{{cite web|title=Forsythia viridissima|url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/forsythia-viridissima/|access-date=2020-03-20|publisher=NCSU|language=en|archive-date=2020-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327085114/https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/forsythia-viridissima/|url-status=live}} Two species/hybrids are commonly cultivated for ornamental use, Forsythia × intermedia and F. suspensa. They are grown in several climates and gardening zones, prized for being tough and reliable perennial plants. F. × intermedia is the more commonly grown, smaller plant and has an upright habit with vivid flowers. F. suspensa is a large to very large shrub with paler blossoms, and can be grown in a weeping shape on banks. Many named garden cultivars can also be found. Budding Forsythia cuttings are frequently brought indoors, for their opening blooms, in the early spring.

Vegetative propagation is usually achieved via cuttings, taken from green wood after flowering in late spring to early summer. Alternatively, cuttings may be taken between November and February, though this may reduce the flowering spectacle of the following spring.{{cite web |url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/forsythia |title=Forsythia (Easter Tree, Forsythia, Golden Bells) |website=NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox |publisher=North Carolina State University |access-date=19 June 2023 |quote=Pruning should be done immediately after spring flowering; if done after mid-July, you will likely remove flower buds for the following spring. To rejuvenate an older plant, you can cut it back almost ground level. |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404231622/https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/forsythia/ |url-status=live }} Low-hanging boughs that touch the ground will often take root, adding to the total mass of the plant, but can be removed for transplanting. A common practice (known as layering) is to place a weight over a branch to keep it on the ground and, after it has rooted, to dig up the roots and cut the rooted part from the main branch; this can then be planted.

Forsythia suspensa is considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs in Chinese herbology.{{cite web|title=Forsythia Lian Qiao Weeping PFAF Plant Database|url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/forsythia-viridissima/|first=Thunb|last=Vahl|date=2019-05-02|publisher=Plants for a Future|language=en|access-date=2020-03-27|archive-date=2020-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327085114/https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/forsythia-viridissima/|url-status=live}}

Forsythia fruits find use in Traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of bacterial infections and upper respiratory disease, by virtue of their antipyretic and anti-inflammatory properties. When used for these purposes, they are combined with other herbs - most notably with the flowers of certain species of Lonicera (honeysuckle). Furthermore, the fruits are also employed as a diuretic and as a 'cardiovascular tonic'. The species involved in such use are Forsythia suspensa, F. koreana, and F. viridissima.Drugs.com https://www.drugs.com/npp/forsythia.html Retrieved at 11.51 on Friday 2025-3-14.

Forsythia sticks are used to bow a Korean stringed instrument called an ajaeng.{{cite web|title=Ajaeng|url=https://www.culturecontent.com/content/contentView.do?search_div=CP_THE&search_div_id=CP_THE008&cp_code=cp0225&index_id=cp02250025&content_id=cp022500250001&print=Y|publisher=Culture Content|access-date=2020-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414233909/https://www.culturecontent.com/content/contentView.do?search_div=CP_THE&search_div_id=CP_THE008&cp_code=cp0225&index_id=cp02250025&content_id=cp022500250001&print=Y|archive-date=2018-04-14|language=ko}}

In some regions, the plant may be known as Easter tree and the flowers as yellow bells.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} In Iran, the plant is known as "yellow Jasmine".

Pörtschach Hans-Pruscha-Weg 5 Forsythien in Blüte 07042016 1210.jpg|Blooming Forsythia × intermedia bush in a hedge in April in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria

File:Tree dsc00856.jpg|A young Forsythia shrub

File:Forsythia.x.intermedia03.jpg|Forsythia × intermedia flowers and young leaves

File:Forsythia flower cut.JPG|A Forsythia flower

File:Forsythia 50years.jpg|The large size of a single, 50-year-old Forsythia

File:Forsythia flower 1r.jpg|Forsythia flower

File:Forsythia in Cambridge, MA.jpg|Close-up of Forsythia flowers

File:Forsythia Close-up.jpg|A budding Forsythia

{{Reflist}}

• {{Commons-inline}}
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/3306.shtml BBC – Forsythia page]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080110033522/http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/fovi.htm Forsythia viridissima Vanderbilt University – Forsythia page]

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Category:Forsythieae

Category:Oleaceae genera

Category:Plants used in bonsai

Category:Taxa named by Martin Vahl