Euonymus sp.

Every nursery keeps a few mysteries, and this trailing evergreen euonymus is one of ours: a plant still awaiting a firm name, possibly Euonymus aculeatus, collected by Frank Bell high on Mount Emei (Emeishan) in Sichuan, China. Low and spreading, the stems carry long-pointed, finely toothed leaves about two inches long, glossy and evergreen, on a habit that hugs the ground and wanders steadily outward.

Like the rest of the genus, this euonymus belongs to the staff-vine family, Celastraceae, kin to the spindle trees whose name reaches back through the Greek for good name, an old euphemism that softens the fact that many spindles are poisonous. The true glory arrives with the fruit: bright red, spiky capsules of remarkable form that seem almost carved against the dark leaves, the kind of detail that stops a visitor mid-path.

As a new and still lightly documented introduction from a famous mountain flora, this plant is offered in a spirit of shared discovery. The low, trailing frame suits a groundcover role in shady or half-shaded ground, knitting across a bank or filling the front of a woodland bed, and the pliant stems would take just as happily to a low trellis or a wall. Keep the poisonous fruit in mind wherever children or pets roam.

Give moist but well-drained soil in part to full shade, a spot with room to spread, and a little patience while the plant settles in. Because the identity is not yet fixed, we especially welcome grower reports on hardiness, habit, and bloom; every observation helps put a proper name to a genuinely intriguing find.