Japanese name: ドウダンツツジ（燈台躑躅） Scientific name:Enkianthus perulatus
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 1–2 m tall, found on rocky sites in low mountains and on sunny, infertile ground.
It branches freely in the upper part and forms a rounded crown.
The leaves are alternate, clustered at the branch tips, narrowly obovate, 2–3 cm long and 0.8–1.5 cm wide, with fine hooked serrations.
They turn a vivid red in autumn and have great ornamental value.
The flowers open at the same time as the leaves, borne 1–5 in umbel-like clusters at the branch tips and opening downward.
The corolla is white and urn-shaped, about 5 mm across; the tip is shallowly 5-lobed with short, curled-back lobes, and the base of the corolla swells to cover the sepals.
The fruit is a capsule borne upright.
[Uses]
It tolerates shearing and is widely used as a garden tree and for hedges.
[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings.
It prefers a sunny site.
[Notes]
The name is said to compare the way the branches fork to the knotted lamp stands once used in the imperial court.
