Evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub to 3 m or so tall with divergent branches. Leaves ovate, 4-10 cm long, with pointed tips, rounded to cordate at the base, dark green above, rusty-haired below, margins with a few indistinct teeth. Flowers in ball-like, highly fragrant, dense clusters, each flower about 1.5 cm wide, pink at first but becoming pure white; spring.

Garden origin

A cross, V. utile (seed parent) × V. carlesii (pollen parent), first raised at the Burkwood and Skipwith Nursery, Kingston-on-Thames, UK, in 1924.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Caprifoliaceae. In: Spencer, R.. 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.