This branch came into a nursery last May for identification. The owners did not recall seeing the flowers. The leaves are opposite and sharply serrate. The little seeds pods resemble small peppers. It is possibly an Asian species.
You are likely correct. I confess I had never noticed the capsules. I will wait for the bloom next spring. Thanks
Me neither, and I've never recognized a Forsythia without the flowers. Once they've finished, I completely forget where they were. Unless I find some capsules, I'll have to wait till next year to document some locations.
I've never seen the fruit before either - I got it to Forsythia from the leaves, and then googled 'forsythia fruit' to find out if they matched, and they did. I suspect it's one of those many plants that needs much more continental climate / hotter summers than either the UK or the PNW has, to be able to ripen fruit normally. Or maybe our mild winters tempt it into flower too early, before potential pollinators emerge.
One more thought on the Forsythia. There appears to be considerable variation on the leaf forms of the various species. It is possible that this plant is one of the more unusual species, possibly F. viridissima.
It is rather the opposite with me. The leaves don't look to me like Forsythia, although the seed capsules do, judging by what one can see on the Net. I don't exclude the possibility of the plant being a Forsythia, though, may be one of those less common eastern Asian species. One more thing @phyllis fafard: the leaves look quite different on each picture. Are you sure both pictures are of the same plant?
I thought each photo, so each cutting, showed some leaves very serrated and others that seemed almost not serrated.
I still have the original branch and there are about 44 leaves on it. Most show the strong serration and become more egg shaped going down the stem. (When I checked a friends Forsythia the stems were very similar.)
