Are large-leaf boxwood, Zhengmu, and Fufangshu the same plant?

Aliases: Zhengmu, Fufangshu, Dongqing Weimao

Family: Celastraceae

Category: Shrub

Latin name: Euonymus japonicus

Morphological features:

Evergreen shrub or small tree. Height 5-6 m. Branchlets green, slightly 4-angled. Leaves simple, opposite, elliptical or obovate, with blunt teeth on the margins, dark green and glossy on the surface, leathery. Flowers in May, greenish-white, 5-12 in cymes, axillary at the tips of branches. Fruit ripens in October; capsule flattened-spherical, powdery green, splitting into 4 valves when mature, aril orange-red.

Origin and distribution:

Native to southern Japan. Widely cultivated in the Yangtze River basin of China.

Ecological habits:

Highly adaptable, sun-loving, and also able to tolerate shade. Prefers a warm, humid climate; slightly poor in cold tolerance. Tolerates dry, barren conditions; prefers fertile, moist, well-drained soil. Strong sprouting ability, tolerant of pruning. Tolerates alkaline conditions.

Propagation:

Mainly by cuttings; can also be propagated by sowing.

Cuttings can be taken in spring or summer; semi-mature softwood cuttings taken in the June plum rain season root faster and grow better. After insertion, shade with a frame initially and keep the seedbed moist. Cutting-grown plants grow much faster than seedling-grown plants. Large-leaf boxwood is usually trained into a spherical crown before planting.

Management:

Seedling transplanting is mostly carried out in spring from March to April; large seedlings need to be transplanted with soil. The main management work is pruning and shaping. Pruned plants sprout very readily, so they need to be pruned several times a year to maintain a certain tree shape.

Pests of large-leaf boxwood include long scale insects, flat stinging moths, and boxwood webworms, which damage the leaves; attention should be paid to their control. For scale insects, a 20-fold dilution of rosin mixture can be used for control; for flat stinging moths and boxwood webworms, use 40% omethoate or isocarbophos at 1000-fold dilution during the larval stage.

Uses:

Large-leaf boxwood has glossy leaves and bright green young leaves, and is extremely tolerant of pruning, making it a common hedge species in courtyards.

It can be shaped and planted in rings beside gates and along roadsides, or planted as the center of a flower bed.

Its variegated-leaf variety is especially attractive. In residential areas it can be used to create green doors and green walls, and can also be grown in pots for ornamental viewing.

Common varieties include:

① Silver-edge boxwood cv. Albo-marginatus, with narrow milky-white margins on the leaves.

② Golden-edge boxwood cv. Aureo-marginatus, with golden-yellow leaf margins.

③ Golden-center boxwood cv. Aureo-variegatus, with yellow stripes along the midrib of the leaves.