Native to slopes and forests of Japan and Taiwan, this small shrub has a common name of buttercup winterhazel. “Buttercup” refers to the colour of its flowers, while “winterhazel” intimates its belonging to the witchhazel family, the Hamamelidaceae. Here at UBC Botanical Garden, it reaches a height of roughly 2 meters while spreading out to nearly 3 meters. Like other members of the genus, the flowers are fragrant, but not overwhelmingly so.

When first beginning to bloom in late winter, it would be suitable to describe the plant as having a constellation of subtle yellow flowers; however, at full bloom, I'd perhaps describe it as a galaxy (specimen photographs). The somewhat misleading epithet, pauciflora (literally a paucity of flowers), makes more sense when comparing this species to other winterhazels. While buttercup winterhazel has clusters of two to five flowers, other members of the genus can have inflorescences of ten or more blossoms.

For a scientific description, see Corylopsis pauciflora in the Flora of China. The first draft of today's entry had an eerie resemblance to the gardening-centred article on Corylopsis pauciflora written by Paghat, since I don't recall reading her article before I'd written the first two paragraphs. I've restructured what I had written, but you can still see the similarities.

Photography resource link: For inspiration, the nature photography of Jasper Doest of The Netherlands.