Euonymus planipes

Flat-stocked spindle is in the bittersweet or Celastraceae family and is a large deciduous shrub native to China, Japan, Korea and Sakhalin Island of Russia. It reaches a height of up to 4 m.

• Winter buds are long (up to 2 cm) and pointed, on the ends of twigs.
• Leaves are opposite pairs, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, 6–9 cm long and 3–5 cm broad, papery, light green, with finely serrated leaf margins and lateral veins which curve towards the end of the leaf.
• Green-yellowish flowers dangling on stems in groups of 3–6, appear in May and are rather inconspicuous.
• Fruit is a 4-lobed pale green pod-like aril, which by fall turns a magnificent crimson and splits open into 4 sections to reveal the fleshy-coated orange seeds, one per lobe.