please help me to id this shrub

[ej358]

https://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/eddiej_2006/?action=view&current=victorianbush.jpg

[MagnoliaMan]

May be some variety of Calycanthus.
MagnoliaMan

[bewildered_nmsu]

Maybe fuchsia.

[ej358]

Thanks for your replies:
@bewildered_nmsu
Not a fuschia. I have many fuschias which I have knowledge of.
@MagnoliaMan
I will look into your suggestion.
Thanks to both contributors.
cheers
EJ

[ej358]

The calycanthus you suggested has upward-looking flowers......my bush has hanging 'chinese lantern' type flowers.
but thanks for your suggestion.
cheers

[bewildered_nmsu]

"Hanging chinese lantern type flowers" screams fuchsia. The picture is grainy but the leaves and flowers vaguely resemble fuchsia. It could be a variety of fuchsia you aren't familiar with.

[ej358]

You may be right but I cannot find any semblance of it in the Fuschia Catalogues.
Also my so-called Victoria Bush has flowers which are better described as multi-chandelier flowers and the branches are of flimsy and hollow wood which break easily in the wind.
Not really a fuschia to my mind, but I am ready to be proved wrong
cheers
EJ

[bewildered_nmsu]

Try looking up Fuchsia online. Fuschia is a common spelling error and could be messing up your search.

[ej358]

Thanks but I already spent a lot of time using Google and following their suggestions for useful possible links.
Also the new Firefox add-on which gives you other similar websites.
My spelling of fuchsia is not in question either ............although I just noticed that I have spelt it wrong in my previous letter
my apologies accepted ?

[rainbowgardener]

Didn't look like fuschia to me either, but I hadn't jumped in because I don't know what it is. You are in UK, so may have shrubs that are totally unfamiliar to us in USA. Do you know where it came from to ask there? Otherwise, perhaps just take a branch clipping to a good local nurseryman and ask. I tried googling Victoria Bush and got no hits relating to shrubbery (there is a British actress.... ), is that just a nickname?

[ej358]

Victoria bush is just a name I gave it...!
I notice that is very easy to mis-spell the fuchsia, even an expert like yourself !
The trouble is caused by the fact that the fuchsia was named by a gentleman called Fuchs and to give the flower a name which if pronounced correctly in German would be unkind.!

Thanks for your input.
The search goes on........

[ej358]

https://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/eddiej_2006/th_victoriabush3.jpg

https://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/eddiej_2006/th_victoriabush2-1.jpg

Here are a couple more pics to help with id.

[The Helpful Gardener]

It is an [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abutilon]abutilon[/url], or flowering maple (bad name; NOTHING to do with real maples at all)...

Which one I have NO idea...

HG

[ej358]

Thank you Scott
BUT I wonder why you are so definite when none of the flowers I have seen in your link are remotely similar to my "victorian bush"
If you look closely at the photos I took, the blooms are multi-tiered I.e there are as many as 4 distinct layers of configuration to each flower.
None of the flowers shown in your link are multi-tiered.
I think that we haven't perhaps found the species yet
cheers
Eddie

[applestar]

Okay, we need a close-up photo of the flowers. I'm straining my eyes over here.

[rainbowgardener]

check the instructions about posting pictures. The code you want is the one that says IMG not JPG. That will put the actual picture in your post, not a link. And people will be able to click on the picture and enlarge it. When we follow the link to these pictures they are very small and not enlarge-able, so very difficult to see any detail.

Here's a link to the instructions https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3724

[The Helpful Gardener]

Seconding the call for better images, although I am still pretty certain; there are double flowered forms...

Just had another thought; do the flowers look anything like[url=https://www.floridastateparks.org/rainbowsprings/images/visitors/RBS-ShrimpPlant-ColleenBraun.jpg]this[/url]?

HG

[ej358]

OK Applestar
thanks for your offer.
Trouble is, I spend too much money on stuff for the garden and still use an ancient camera
I'll get another close-up tomorrow.
cheers

[ej358]

do the flowers look anything like[url=https://www.floridastateparks.org/rainbowsprings/images/visitors/RBS-ShrimpPlant-ColleenBraun.jpg]this[/url]?

HG

Not really, your flowers are multi flower on separate stems.
My flower is 4 or 5 tiers, almost like a chandelier.

[ej358]

[img]https://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/eddiej_2006/victoriabush2.jpg[/img]

Ok, I think I got the hang of it now!

[The Helpful Gardener]

I'm still betting on [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justicia]Justicia[/url], just a different species. We even have a native Water Willow (J. americana) that looks NOTHING like either of our pictures.

I may not be right, but I think I'm close. A relative, anyway...

HG

[ej358]

OK Scott
We will stay with that until a better offer comes along
I shall be out of town for a few days from today, so apologies if I do not reply for a few days.
cheers
Eddie

[ej358]

I was at the east coast for a few days and found that my host also had a couple of bushes EXACTLY like the one I have.
BUT, he doesn't kknow the name of it either

My next ploy is to take a cutting to my local Garden Centre and ask the experts there.

[applestar]

You shrub was ID'd in [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18525&highlight=]this thread[/url] when interest was renewed by another poster.
Kisal ID'd it as Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa).

[ej358]

Thank you
That is the shrub in question absolutely!
I can now tell all my friends what it is
It is a HIMALAYAN HONEYSUCKLE