Eastern Wahoo, Euonymus atropurpurea Jacq. var. atropurpurea, native plants Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Eastern Wahoo	Euonymus atropurpurea Jacq. var. atropurpurea	Bittersweet (Celastraceae)	Woodland and Upland	Late Spring flowering
Other names and notes	(Burning Bush, Indian Arrowroot, Spindle Tree). Eastern Wahoo is a low branching shrub that can reach 20' in height under good conditions but is usually around 6 feet. The bark is greenish-brown to somewhat reddish brown and shows signs of shallow vertical splits. It flowers in late spring with very small 4-part flowers that have dark purple petals and whitish anthers. Flowers are in small branched clusters that spring from the leaf axils and they mature into startling red smooth capsule of 3 to 4 lobes, about 1/2" wide, that splits open to show dark red seeds. The leaves are opposite, oblong or elliptical, pointed and finely toothed. It grows in moist woods and thickets. Wahoo is a Native American name. The wood is hard and workable. Mrs. Grieve (Ref. 7) reports that in old herbals the plant is referred to as "Skewerwood" referencing its old use in making skewers, spindles and toothpicks.


Above: Purple 4-parted flowers. Photo ©Merel R. Black, University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point.	Above: The flowering stem. Photo ©Stephen L. Solheim, University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point.	Above. The reddish-gray bark of a mature stem showing typical vertical splits.


Above: The red lobed seed capsules in early October prior to splitting open. Below: The bright red seeds emerging from the capsule.

Notes: Eloise Butler first planted this species in May 1907 with specimens she brought in from the “government reservation” (which is presumably the area of and around Fort Snelling). She planted more in 1909 and 1912 and Martha Crone planted it in 1935. She listed it on her 1951 Garden census under the alternative common name "Burning Bush". It is native to Minnesota and found in a number of counties in the southern 1/2 of the state from Stearns and Anoka southward, with a number of exceptions in the SW Quadrant. It's range in North America is the eastern 2/3rds of the U.S., westward as far as the Dakotas and Montana. In Canada it is found from Ontario eastward.

Martha Crone wrote in The Fringed Gentian™, Autumn 1961, how "after the foliage dries, the red seed capsules are displayed, each seed coated with the red of the Cardinal Flower - a color used on no other fruit or flower [in the eastern half of the United States]. These capsules are the size of burst popcorn and in the shape of 4-cornered hats, appearing in masses."

Lore: There is herbal medicine literature on the plant. The root bark, which is bitter and unpleasant to the taste, was used to create a decoction by boiling a small teaspoonful in 2 cups of boiling water and when cooled down is taken for disorders of the liver. (Ref 12). Root bark is sometimes called "Wahoo Bark" and when dry has a faint odor of liquorice, and the principle is a bitter resin called Euonymin, which is available commercially as a powdered extract. In small doses it is an appetite stimulant, it larger doses it is a purgative. (Ref. 7).

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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