The Irish botanist Michael Pakenham Edgeworth and his half-sister Maria Edgeworth were both honored with the naming of this plant. Chrysantha refers to its golden yellow flowers. The common name, Paperbush, comes from its use to produce quality paper. In Japan, the paper is used to make banknotes.
Edgeworthia is a shrub native to China and the Himalayas that provides superb fall and winter interest and a gardenia-like fragrance. This well-branched, well-formed shrub begins forming its silvery buds in late summer into fall, adding interest to your fall garden. It begins to bloom in December, when it’s nothing but a bare silhouette in the garden and continues through the winter. The individual florets are tiny, but a few dozen make up a 1½- to 2-inch cluster of beautiful yellow flowers.
