Leucothoe 'Lipsbolwi' RED LIPS® leucothoe, switch ivy

Leucothoe

Leucothoe belongs to the heath family and, as a genus, includes 10-12 species of evergreen or semi-evergreen shrubs distributed, somewhat unexpectedly, across distant regions, primarily in eastern North America and in East Asia. Their natural habitat consists of woodland understoreys, moist mountain slopes and the margins of streams, where they grow in acidic, humus-rich soils and spend most of the year in dappled light. Botanically, the genus is considered relatively ancient, with its evolutionary origins placed in the Tertiary period on the basis of fossil evidence from the heath family as a whole and biogeographical patterns showing that shrubs with a similar leaf and flower structure were a common component of northern hemisphere forest ecosystems at a time when the climate was beginning to cool and diversify. The genus was formally defined by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) in 1753 in his seminal work Species Plantarum, where he clearly separated it from related ericaceous shrubs with which it had previously often been confused.

The name Leucothoe was chosen by Linnaeus as a deliberate reference to an ancient story of transformation, light and return from shadow. Leukothoē (Λευκοθόη) is a figure from Greek mythology, best known from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where she appears as the daughter of the Persian king Orchamus. She fell in love, in a manner deemed unacceptable by the social standards of the time, with Apollo, the god of light, music and prophecy. When their relationship was discovered, she was buried alive on her father’s orders, a punishment too harsh even by ancient standards and intended as a demonstration of the father’s absolute power over his daughter’s fate and, by extension, over everything around him. According to the myth, Apollo transformed her into a plant from which fragrant resin began to flow. This motif of the human body transformed into a plant, associated with light, purity and the contrast between darkness and brightness, resonates with surprising accuracy with the character of leucothoes themselves. Moreover, the name contains the Greek root leukos (λευκός), meaning white or bright, which may be read as an allusion both to the delicate white flowers and the ability of these shrubs to lighten shaded woodland understoreys.

Leucothoes hybridise naturally mainly in North America, most notably between the species L. fontanesiana and L. axillaris, which are closely related both genetically and ecologically and occur together in the woodland understorey of the temperate zone. Other species, such as the East Asian L. keiskei or the less widely distributed L. walteri (SE USA), have remained largely outside the focus of plant breeders. The key North American species share a similar flower structure, bloom at the same time and have compatible pollen, making hybridisation between them almost inevitable. Pronounced differences in growth habit, plant size and seasonal foliage colour, as well as the overall variability of these shrubs, were recognised by American nurserymen in the mid-20th century when they were seeking reliable evergreen shrubs for shade. This led to the deliberate selection and crossing of leucothoes, often using open pollination. The result is a range of stable garden cultivars that combine resilience with distinctive and long-proven ornamental qualities.