1. Yellow-flowered variety, golden laurel. The main characteristic of golden laurel is the opening of golden yellow flowers. This variety is tall and upright, with a spherical crown, lush foliage and strong branch development. It has an early germination period and is capable of branching twice a year, once in early March when it starts to germinate and stops growing by the end of April, generally known as the spring buds, and once in the fall when it sprouts after flowering, known as the autumn buds. Osmanthus leaves are shiny and oily green, with thin leathery texture, and bloom in late September with a strong fragrance. The petals are soft yellow at the beginning of the bloom, and later gradually become golden yellow, sending out a sweet odor, strong can be intoxicating, this is a kind of economic value and ornamental value are relatively high varieties, now introduces the six main varieties of yellow flowers.
(1) the tooth leaf osmanthus, the main feature of this osmanthus is the leaf margin teeth fine, accounting for the proportion of the leaf margin is also large. The flower stalks show red color and the petals range from light yellow, yellowish to dark yellow from tip to base. This variety is one of the famous varieties with some fruiting and some not, and is mostly reproduced asexually.
(2) Park Tun gold laurel, the main feature of this laurel is the longer leaf blade, generally length to width ratio of 3:1 ~ 4:1, the whole edge of the wavy, veins hidden, lateral veins of up to 17 to 18 pairs. The flower stalk is longer than that of the toothed leaf cinnamon, generally 0.9～1.3 cm, the corolla is light yellow or yellow, the pistil is degenerated and not well developed, so it does not bear fruit.
(3) star cinnamon, which is a short leaf blade varieties. The aspect ratio of the leaf blade is 2.5:1 to 3.2:1, leathery and thick, the surface of the leaf blade is wrinkled, and the lateral veins are 9 to 11 pairs. The flowering period is about 2 to 3 days later than that of the Parkdun Golden Laurel, with a slender flower stalk, an orange-yellow corolla, and a degraded pistil, which is not well developed and does not bear fruit.
(4) sparsely veined cinnamon, the main feature of this variety is that there are fewer lateral veins, generally only 5 to 6 pairs, so it is called sparsely veined cinnamon; it is also characterized by the tip of the leaf and the leaf margins of the revolute. Flowers are large, some up to 1.1 cm in diameter, petal color shows light yellow or golden yellow, pistil degradation, development is not sound, also can not bear fruit.
(5) red cinnamon, red cinnamon flower posture, flower pattern is particularly beautiful, colorful flowers, is a very popular species. Flower bracts red, red and purple halo color on the flower stalk, bright red at the base, the early stage of the corolla shows greenish yellow, later for the golden red. The pistils of this variety are all degraded and cannot bear fruit.
(6) small-flowered golden noble this variety of smaller flowers, corolla diameter of 0.5 to 0.6 cm, shorter inflorescences. Branches are also sparsely flowered, mostly single buds, petal lobes deep, corolla is light yellow or yellow, pistil semi-degenerate, development is not sound, also can not bear fruit.
2. Yellow and white varieties, silver laurel. It is generally believed that silver laurel must be white flowers, in fact, not, carefully observe the silver laurel flower color is not completely white, and more yellow-white or yellowish, slightly lighter aroma than golden laurel. This variety of tree is smaller than the golden laurel, branches, leaves are generally more sparse, the crown presents an oblong sphere, but the fall tips than the golden laurel hair to be more. Silver laurel leaves are mostly yellow-green, the back of the spreading, flowering than the golden laurel later than a week, when the flowers first opened, creamy white, and then gradually become yellowish, the aroma overflowing, as far as a few miles, is a good variety of green flower garden.
3. safflower varieties, danggui is a late-flowering varieties, late spring sprouting, branches hard and short thick, oval leaf blade, leaf edge appears blunt serrated shape, leaf color is dark green, autumn growth is vigorous. Spring and the first year of the autumn tips of the leaf axils bearing 1 to 2 flower buds, rarely overlap, each inflorescence consists of 5 to 7 small flowers, the top of the internodes protruding clusters of flower globes, the top of the biennial branches are also flowering. Danggui flowering in late September, the corolla shows orange-yellow, with the passage of time, gradually become orange-red, extremely beautiful, but the aroma is a little less. Danggui varieties are rare, coupled with the abundance of beautiful, colorful flowers burning people, high ornamental value, is the most desirable flowers in potted varieties.
4. Four seasons of flowering varieties, laurel, some places called month to month, but collectively known as the four seasons of laurel. The main characteristics of this variety are: the plant clusters appear shrubby, the crown is oval, branch development is robust, branching and foliage. The leaves of the current year's shoots are lighter in color, yellowish-green or green, oval, with spreading blades, serrated along the entire margin, leathery and light green, with drooping leaf tips and more lateral veins, usually 15 to 17 pairs. The flowering period is long and the flowers are lemon yellow or pale yellow. In addition to severe winters and summers, there are usually a few fragrant flowers open one after another, and the most flowers bloom in the fall. The Yangtze River Basin and its southern region, winter also continue to bloom, and thus known as the four seasons of osmanthus, but the aroma is not as good as the other seasons, if the temperature drops below 5 ℃, almost can not smell the fragrance.
5. The original species, Chai Gui, also known as Zi Gui. Tree height up to 10 meters, branches sparse slightly drooping, leaf spreading rough, leaf edge with needle-like teeth, leaf surface showing dark green. This variety is characterized by: young trees generally do not bloom, perennial trees can only bloom, flowers sparse and easy to fall off, the corolla is yellowish-white, slightly fragrant, can be used to fine varieties of pollen, artificial pollination, cultivation of osmanthus fine varieties. It is also possible to use Chai Gui seedlings as grafting rootstocks to propagate valuable osmanthus flowers.
In addition, there are other varieties around the south, such as the Chengdu area of the staghorn osmanthus, small-leaf staghorn osmanthus, large-leaf silver osmanthus, large-leaf jiangui, large-leaf danggui, etc.; Wuhan region of the willow-leaf suzukuri, small-leaf suzukuri, large-leaf suzukuri, ball osmanthus, etc.; Hubei Xianning region of the late osmanthus, decorative golden osmanthus, large-leaf bay laurel, medium-leaf bay laurel, small-leaf bay laurel, grass-covered danggui, orange red danggui, etc.; In addition, the Shanghai and Suzhou area of the In addition, Shanghai, Suzhou area of cold dew laurel, willow leaf laurel, early decorative laurel, large-leaf decorative laurel, large Sichuan decorative laurel, small Sichuan decorative laurel, etc..