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 An
Illustrated Guide to
Common Weeds
of New Zealand
Euonymus
europaeus
spindle
tree
Family
CELASTRACEAE
 Reproduced
from
Common
Weeds of New Zealand
by Ian Popay, Paul Champion & Trevor James
ISBN 0 473 09760 5
by kind permission of the
New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
Publication or other use of images or descriptive
text on these pages is unauthorised unless written permission is
obtained from the authors and publisher.
Appropriate acknowledgement
of the publication Common Weeds of New Zealand must always
be given.
Available from Touchwood
Books
 Much-branched
deciduous shrub or small tree up to 6 m tall, with distinctive orange-coloured
aril surrounding the seeds.
- Flowers
Greenish-yellow, 8-10 mm in diameter, with four narrow, widely
separated petals. Flowers in long-stalked, two- to fifteen-flowered,
flat- or convex-topped inflorescences with forked branches. Flowers
Nov-Dec.
- Fruit
Deep pink, four-lobed capsules, that spring open to expose the
bright orange aril covering the seeds.
- Leaves
In opposite pairs, oval to elliptical, up to 10 cm long, stalks
up to 12 mm long, finely-toothed, pointed. Turning red in autumn.
- Stems
Young twigs four-angled, green. Mature bark grey and smooth.
Habitat
Scrubland, forest margins,
hedges and waste places.
Distribution
Occasional in NI at
Palmerston North and Levin. Common in lowland Marlborough, Canterbury
and Dunedin in SI. Originally from Europe to Caucasia.
Comments
Said to be poisonous,
but that poisoning is rare.
Related
species
Japanese spindle tree
(Euoymus japonicus) is an evergreen shrub or small tree
up to 7 m tall, distinguished from spindle tree (Euonymus
europaeus) by its rounded, unlobed capsules. Found in scrubland
and waste places. Common in Auckland City, has also been found
in Levin and Pukerua Bay, Wellington. Only found in NI. Subject
to Pest Plant Management Strategies in several regions of NZ.
Details are available from individual regional councils or unitary
authorities.
Derivation
of botanical name
Euonymus (Lat.)
name of plant; europaeus (Lat.) = of Europe.
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