Erect shrub to about 3 m tall. Branches green, erect, square in section, pith chambered in fresh shoots. Leaves lanceolate, simple, rarely divided, entire or toothed in the upper half; deep red in autumn. Flowers 3 or more, yellow, suffused with green; late spring.
China
F. europaea Degen. & Bald. from Albania is similar but has entire or few-toothed leaves.
Source: (2002). Oleaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Forsythia viridissima 'Bronxensis'
Dwarf, compact shrub with short internodes, leaves 3-4 cm long, prolific flowers.
Seed sent from the Imperial University of Tokyo as F. viridissima var. koreana was raised at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in America in 1928 and propagating material of dwarf plants that arose from some of the seedlings was then sent to the New York Botanical Garden and named in 1947.