Korea Flora: Deciduous shrub. Height 2-3m. Winter buds and branchlets: Terminal bud solitary, elongated ovoid, with a pointed tip. Lateral buds opposite, smaller than the terminal bud, 8-14mm long. Branchlets round with stellate hairs that gradually disappear. Leaf scars circular or semicircular. Leaves opposite, spoon-shaped, ovate or oblong, long acuminate apex and cuneate base, 3-12cm × 2.5-5cm. Glands developed on both surfaces, short hairs on the upper surface, dense stellate hairs on the lower surface, with sharp teeth on the margins. Petiole 0.5-1cm long, densely covered with stellate hairs. Flowers in cymes in leaf axils, inflorescence 1.5-3cm wide, initially with some stellate hairs. Pale purple corolla tube 2-2.5mm long, with fine hairs and glands on the outside, 4 stamens, 1 pistil. Fruit and seeds: Round, 4-5mm in diameter, purple.

Flowering: Late June to mid-July

Fruiting: Mid to late October

Distribution: Central China, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu in Japan; South of South Pyongan Province and Gangwon Province in Korea.

Taxonomic note: C. japonica var. leucocarpa Nakai (white-fruited weigela) is an illegitimate name and should not be used as a scientific name.

 

Japan Flora: De­ciduous shrub; branches terete, minutely stellate-puberulent while young, glabrescent; leaves membranous to thinly char­taceous, obovate, ovate or oblong, 6-12 cm. long, 2.5-45 cm. wide, acuminate to acute at both ends, serrulate, nearly gla­brous to loosely puberulent on both surfaces, yellowish glandu­lar-dotted below, the lateral nerves 5-9 pairs, the petioles 2-10 mm. long; cymes rather many-flowered, axillary, short-pedunculate, scattered stellate-puberulent; corolla pale purple, 3-5 mm. long, usually puberulent and glandular-dotted; anthers oblong, about 2 mm. long; fruit purple, about 3 mm. across. June-Aug.

Hokkaido (s. distr.), Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common and variable. Ryukyus, Formosa, China, and Manchuria.

var. luxurians Rehder Leaves thicker, larger, rather lustrous above, 10-15(-20) cm. long, 4-6(-7) cm. wide, serrulate; cymes larger with thicker branches. July-Aug. Lowlands near the sea; Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; rather com­mon.