Plant: Linebacker - Distylium
Distylium · Distylium racemosum 'Linebacker'
Size: 3 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
Linebacker is a vigorous evergreen distylium with a compact but upright habit, reaching 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide. Reddish new foliage matures to dark green on leathery, glossy, elliptical to obovate leaves. Small petalless flowers with red calyces and purple stamens open in February and March. It grows from light shade to full sun in clay, loam or sandy soil across a wide pH range, tolerates heat, drought and wet soils, and has high resistance to deer and rabbits with no significant pest or disease damage. Use it for privacy hedges, screens and tall backdrop plantings.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 10 ft tall and 8 ft wide
- Blooms in winter, spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 7-9
- Evergreen foliage
Plant description
Linebacker is a vigorous evergreen distylium with a compact but upright habit, reaching 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide. Reddish new foliage matures to dark green on leathery, glossy, elliptical to obovate leaves. Small petalless flowers with red calyces and purple stamens open in February and March. It grows from light shade to full sun in clay, loam or sandy soil across a wide pH range, tolerates heat, drought and wet soils, and has high resistance to deer and rabbits with no significant pest or disease damage. Use it for privacy hedges, screens and tall backdrop plantings.
- Flowers
- Small petalless flowers with red calyces and purple stamens borne in short racemes in February and March.
- Foliage
- Leathery, glossy simple leaves 1 to 3 inches long, elliptical to obovate with entire margins, held alternately along rigid branches.
- Fruit
- A two beaked woody capsule under an inch long, covered in brown star shaped hairs.
- Pruning
- Pruning is minimal; a light tip pruning in June spurs new growth.
- Native range
- China and Japan
