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winged euonymus Celastraceae Euonymus alatus (Thunb.) Siebold Listen to the Latin Print a QR link to this factsheet symbol: EUAL13
Leaf: Opposite (or partly sub-opposite), simple, elliptical to obovate, 1 1/2 to 3 inches long, finely serrated margin, green above, slightly paler beneath, turns bright red in the fall.
Flower: Perfect, inconspicuous, pale, yellow-green, 1/2 inch across, occur in clusters of three, appear in late spring.
Fruit: A 1/4 to 1/3 inch capsule, dark red outside, splitting open to reveal a bright orange-red aril, ripen in early fall.
Twig: Moderate, greenish brown with several conspicuous corky wings on each stem; buds sharp pointed and reddish brown.
Bark: Gray to gray-brown, splitting revealing a lighter inner bark causing it to look faintly striped.
Form: A multi-stemmed shrub rising to 10 feet, rounded crown unless trimmed. It can also, depending on variety, become a small tree.
 Looks like: strawberry bush - eastern wahoo - spindletree - piratebush

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Additional Range Information: Euonymus alatus is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and may seed into the landscape. Download the full-size PDF map.
More Information: Fall Color
External Links: USDAFS FEIS Silvics - USDA Plants Database
All material 2025 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information