The preeminent Euonymus specimens at the Garden are the large E. 
bungeana trees just north of the Lehmann Rose Garden. They are bigger 
than the handbooks say this Chinese species ought to become and thus 
evidently date back far into the Garden’s history. Another of similar size 
grows in the parking lot of the Commerce Bank in Kirkwood, a western 
suburb of St. Louis. 
Horticulturally attractive aspects of E. bungeana are its gnarled shape, 
distinctive bark, and abundant fruits that change from yellow to pink and 
open to reveal rose-colored seeds, which retain their color into the winter. 
The fruits may remind you of the closely related bittersweet (species of 
Celastrus). 
Euonymus species frequently have green, four-angled twigs; paired 
leaves; small, usually green, flat flowers often with four (or five) petals; 
and capsular fruits containing seeds with a bright orange and reddish 
covering (called an aril). Such small, greenish, flat flowers with exposed 
nectar are often pollinated by small flies. The bright aril on the seed 
attracts birds, which disperse the seeds through their digestive systems. 
Species of Euonymus are laced with poisons; eating the fruits can 
induce digestive disorders and unconsciousness. The attractive bright 
coloration of the fruits and seeds makes them especially hazardous 
around children. Livestock browsing on the leaves have been poisoned. 
Like many poisonous plants, Euonymus species have been used in folk 
remedies for all sorts of ailments. Wood of E. europaea-once served for 
making spindles for looms, hence the name “spindletree” for arborescent 
species. The dye used for the sacred forehead mark of the Hindus histori- 
cally comes from the bark of E. tingens. 
Euonymus is the ancient name for Euonymus europaea. Bungeana 
honors the botanist Aleksandr Andreevich von Bunge. 
