Semi-evergreen shrub 1-2 m tall with slender arching branches. New growth bronzish. Leaves ovate, mostly to 5 cm long, 2 cm wide, pointed, shallowly sawtoothed, glossy above. Flowers mostly in groups of 1-4; summer to autumn. Sepals 2-5, variously fused and generally copper-coloured. Corolla about 2 cm long, white, suffused with pink, throat hairy.
Garden origin
This is a hybrid, A. chinensis × A. uniflora, of unknown origin, but available in Europe in the late 19th century.
A. floribunda (M.Martens & Galeotti) Decne, Mexican Abelia, is an evergreen shrub to 2 m or more tall with ovate leaves to about 4 cm long, 2 cm wide, shiny above and with a few marginal teeth. The flowers are solitary or 2-3 together, pendulous, with 5 sepals and a tubular corolla 3-4.5 cm long, reddish purple in summer. No doubt many plants sold under this name are A. ×grandiflora and it is likely that plants available in horticulture as A. chinensis are also A. ×grandiflora.
A. uniflora Wallich is occasionally offered; it is an evergreen shrub from China with whitish flowers that have orange throats. [A. rupestris Lindl.]
Source: (2002). Caprifoliaceae. 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.
Low shrub to just over 1 m tall with orange-yellow leaves.
The identity of this cultivar needs verification.
Abelia ×grandiflora 'Compacta'
A low-growing plant with deep green leaves and rather small white flowers.
It is likely that plants referred to as 'dwarf' or 'Nana' belong here, although there is a spreading 'Prostrata' which has reddish new growth and white flowers.
Abelia ×grandiflora 'Francis Mason'
A densely branched, smaller shrub to about 1.5 m tall, with orange-yellow leaves at first, becoming green with dark yellow margins; flowers prolific, white.
Raised in New Zealand.
It is likely that plants sold as 'Aurea' and 'Variegata' belong here.
Abelia ×grandiflora 'Goldsport'
Shrub to about 1.5 m tall with leaves variegated with yellow and flowers pink and white.
