I never heard of this before and now I want to go out and see one in person. While googling to see some good pictures. I found some information about growing these at www.easywildflower.com under the name euonymus atropurpurea. Elsewhere it says not to grow in poorly-drained soil.

Asarum, Cady,
Thanks so much for the information. I went to the site easywildflower site it was pretty helpful. Cady, I'm going to plant them on the south side of a retaining wall at the top of a slope so hopefully they will grow and last 30 years like yours! The plant I took the seeds from is gorgeous right now. Thanks again for your guidance.
Chaz

A year ago, I was interested in propagating the eastern wahoo, and found a site on the Internet that stated that it can be propagated from semi-soft stem cuttings in summer.

It probably is too late to do that now, but you could try planting seeds, then take cuttings next year. It wouldn't harm the tree, and you may be able to get permission from the town or county to do it.

I saw something similar at the nearby Guelph Arboretum a few years ago. I discovered it was Euonymus europeus and decided I NEEDED one. Well I eventually located one plant and situated it in full sun near the pond. It likes it there but I have to cage it in winter and early spring because rabbits adore it.

Later I was given 3 sticks of this plant and all 3 have survived except that only two of them have fruit at this time. So that made 4 plants!

Then, another friend gave me 3 more! I planted 2 fairly near the house and one by the creek. All are growing well. That makes 7 plants!!! Well, I still like them very much. Google gives various reports on what size I can expect them to attain. I prefer the 8' suggestion over the 30' one!

Here is a link that might be useful: Another Euonymus with fruit

I went to gardenbug's link and was amazed to read that Euonymus europeus was a native! As I was trying to figure out how something named europeus could be native, I noticed that the nursery was in the UK.

Duh...

Claire

Claire,
LOL
I have had surreal experiences when reading overseas nursery websites, as well! Now I know to check the URL to ID the country it's from.

Hi all,
Thanks so much for your responses.
Euonymus atropurpurea, I believe is native to north america. I've seen spindle tree Euonymus europeus at the brooklyn botanic gardens when I lived in NY, while it was beautiful, the atropurpurea seems to have more abundant fruit, at least the specimen I collected the seeds from. It was so full of fruit that I noticed it driving past on the highway at about 75 mph (yes well over the limit), I had to get off the next exit and go back to see what it was, I thought it was a hot pink crab apple!
Thanks again,
Chaz

Marie, 'Google gives various reports on what size I can expect them to attain. I prefer the 8' suggestion over the 30' one!"
Not sure about 30' (very probable), but certainly could attest to 20' as it's a very common shrub in Eastern Ukraine (z4-5) and is very often used for creating fast growing wind breaking and snow holding hedge between farm fields.

Wonder if this is the same as the native 'Heartsaburstin'
that we have here in the woods? I think that's E. americana,
though. A wonderful native, 4'-5', not exactly common but
not rare either.

Here you go...Nov 7, 2007:
{{gwi:184009}}

Beautiful! and is that snow on the fruit?

Claire

OMG, Gorgeous. I have not had luck getting seeds to sprout,it there a trick to it?

That... is.... gorgeous!! Just gorgeous.

I'm a bit afraid of that 30' description, though. I too prefer the 8', lol.

:)
Dee

I can't shake the feeling that this thread is one big gardening joke. Geeze, wahoo, indeed.

Ah, but we haven't even touched on the Western Wahoo...

Claire

Here is a link that might be useful: Western Wahoo

Marie, I was skeptical when I saw the title, too, but I did do a google search, and there it is!

I can't help but think of Dr. Seuss when I think about it, lol. I suppose it is one of the more colorful common names....

:)
Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: one of many links for the wahoo

Yes Claire, that was snow...past tense thank goodness! A note of warning: rabbits adore this plant and chew the stems! I cage mine each winter. Still need to get that done...

I did some more Googling, found these:

"Dear Twig: My dad says thereÂs a bush called wahoo. True?

Not only is there a bush called wahoo, thereÂs also a fish and a town in Nebraska. And back in 1895, "Wahoo! Wahoo!" rang out as the fight song of Ohio State University. "Wahoo! Wahoo! I yell for OSU!" (And so on.)

The bush called wahoo grows in woodlands in eastern and central North America. The name is based on a Dakota word for "arrow wood"; wahoo twigs are strong with four "winged" ridges. Indian arrow, bursting-heart and bitter ash are other names. Scientists call it Euonymus atropurpureus. Maybe you know its garden cousin. Euonymus alatus  burning bush  turns flaming red in fall.

The fish called wahoo  also called ono, but not Yoko, and Acanthocybium solandri  lives in the ocean. The name is from an old misspelling of the Hawaiian island Oahu.

And the eastern Nebraska town of Wahoo, whose name, like the shrubÂs, derives from Dakotan, is home to nearly 4,000 Wahooans.

Wahoo!

Twig"

Wahoo

[Origin: 1855Â60, Americanism;

wahoo definitions

Claire

A friend just mailed me some seeds from a shrub she found in New York State, and which she tentatively identified as the Eastern Wahoo - Euonymus atropurpurea. 6' to 7' tall, grayish bark, leaves opposite and full of these seed capsules. I remembered this thread (how can you forget the name Eastern Wahoo?).

Do you agree with the identification and has anyone had success with growing the seeds?

The easywildflowers.com site Asarum noted was helpful, and it sounds like a great candidate for winter sowing.

Claire

claire, you are FUNNY!! loved reading the wahoo name info.
Now i'm going to replace my "hoorah!" with "wahoo wahoo osu!!"
any way, just FYI to thread participants, i have grown this in FULL SHADE, against our house, for some 15 years. it berries, though not prolifically and is only 8'H. i love it.
best,
mindy

Why would an eastern shrub be named for the Dakotas? Some bit of info is missing....

Love the common name, "hearts a-burstin'. Love all those old folk names but still curious about wahoo's name origin.

Mindy: it's lovely to know you've had success growing the Eastern Wahoo, and in shade yet! I just planted four tubes from Forest Farm, in part to mostly sun: I decided I needed an Eastern Wahoo patch. They're pretty small now, but I have great hopes for them.

Ginny12: The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has a distribution map that shows the Eastern Wahoo has a wide natural range that certainly would overlap with the Dakota Indian population.

Distribution:
Euonymus atropurpureus Jacq. var. atropurpureus

Claire

But the east was settled by Europeans long before the area where the Dakota Indians were located. They must have encountered the shrub long before the Dakota tribes. So how or why could they have adopted a name of a tribe they had not encountered?

I have a lot of wildflower books, which I will search when I can. Just curious.

Ginny: I did some more googling and was about to post some links but ran into some scary sort of computer snafu. I don't want to search again right now, but the gist of what I found is:

There was a Battle of Wahoo Swamp in Florida in 1835, which was the start of the Second Seminole War. This implies that "wahoo" was a term in more widespread Indian usage than just the upper midwest.

The Native American tribes had considerable contact in pre-European times, as evidenced by the Iroquois and Algonquian Confederacies, so it's reasonable that "wahoo" was known on the Atlantic seacoast.

Enough for now. Interesting stuff.

Claire

I fall planted some wahoo seed a few years ago.It took two years (winters) for any of them to come up.

I have some growing wild on my farm, it is an ice cream plant for deer thats for sure. It is only found where a deer cannot reach it and only a handfull are on my 140 acres.

I did not have any luck getting any of the seeds to germinate, but as previously stated, maybe it takes 2 years for them to come up since they need warm,cold,warm to stratify them.

Here is a fall pic in October of them on my place.

[IMG]http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k445/pes1979/Trees%20on%20the%20Farm/UnknownTreeorShrub.jpg[/IMG]

Your photo (copy the HTML code, not the IMG code) - I love the fruit:

I planted four tube-sized Eastern Wahoos from Forest Farm a few years ago - two have survived but are growing slowly.

Claire

The Siouan language family is thought to have originated in the Southeast. It then moved westward, for example along the Ohio in the case of the Siouan language subfamily known OVS, Ohio Valley Siouan. Thus, a Siouan origin for "wahoo" is in fact expected.

Thanks, aremwa. It seems very reasonable that the "wahoo" name was brought west to describe a familiar plant found both in the Southeast and the Midwest.

My little wahoos are still alive but not happy. I'm wondering if they're salt-sensitive. I planted them on the side of the house exposed to the winds off the bay. I may just move some or all of them to a more sheltered area on the other side of the house. Since I removed a whole lot of wild blackberry plants I now have some open space that's maybe more suitable for them.

Claire

When those pods open and red seeds emerge i put them in the ground over winter and from last fall to this fall most are two feet or more high