Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Sasaba'

'Sasaba' is the holly osmanthus taken to a theatrical extreme, grown less for flower than for the sheer drama of the leaf. Each dark, glossy, evergreen leaf is cut and incised into narrow, spine-tipped lobes that jut out in every direction, so that the whole shrub reads as a slow green explosion. The Japanese name says it well: sasaba means bamboo leaf, for the narrow, divided foliage.

Underneath the fireworks, this is Osmanthus heterophyllus, the holly osmanthus of Japan, in the olive family alongside lilac, jasmine, and the fragrant sweet olive. The genus name is Greek for fragrant flower, and true to that, small waxy white flowers open in autumn and carry a sweet scent several feet on the air, though the flowers are modest and 'Sasaba' is grown first and last for the foliage. One honest note on the armament: fierce as the leaves look, the spines are a touch softer than a true holly's, more bark than bite.

The plant has a reputation to match the look. Michael Dirr is often quoted calling 'Sasaba' a plant handler's worst nightmare, and anyone who has potted one up will nod, but that ferocity is exactly the point in the right spot. Slow and dense, the shrub builds over years to a compact upright evergreen of four to seven feet, occasionally more with age, and never loses the fine, spiky texture that sets the shrub apart from every ordinary landscape plant.

Give 'Sasaba' well-drained soil in sun or shade, and the plant proves adaptable and trouble-free, drought-tolerant once established and thoroughly deer-proof for obvious reasons. Use the shrub as a textural specimen where the strange foliage can be studied, as a security barrier under a window, or as a slow evergreen accent in a collector's border. This is a connoisseur's plant, uncommon in the trade, and a conversation piece that earns its keep every day of the year.